Legends of Ninjago: Rise of Evil
by TRikiD
Summary: In a world where hellish creatures, dragons and snake humanoids known as Serpentine exist: will four men with extraordinary powers be able to conquer each of these obstacles? Follow four ninja as they battle their way through danger, heartache and woe.
1. Chapter 1

Legends of Ninjago: Rise of Evil

Chapter 1 – Beginnings

It was dark, and there was nothing but silence that filled the black void. But then there was the sound of men fighting, two men from the sound of it, and there was also the sound of metal clanging and bashing. From one clashing sound came a quick glimpse of a large bright fire, but the darkness remained, and eventually the fire disappeared as quickly as it appeared. With another clank sound, there was an electrical buzzing noise, and along with that, was another quick glimpse of not fire, but bright blue strands of lightening, and it disappeared too. Another clashing metal sound came, and with it, beautiful white wisps of snow flakes appeared, but disappeared as well. And with one final and loud crash, there was the sound of what seemed like the earth's ground shaking, and then the sound of rock breaking apart. With the sound of the breaking rocks, eventually came the sound of a man screaming, but the screaming faded away, as the dark void stayed.

* * *

A bucket of water appeared as it looked like it was sitting on simple concrete ground. Faint footsteps were heard as they approached the water filled bucket, and a human shaped figure that was hard to make out became visible in the water. Suddenly the figure stuck a hot blade of a sword into the bucket, and steam clouds rose as the scorching blade was being cooled. The figure that put the sword in the water bucket was actually a six foot tall man. The man had fairly tan skin, short, yet extremely spiky, brown hair that was apparently glossy from too much hair gel. He had amber brown eyes, and on his right eyebrow was a small scar. He wore a white t-shirt and khaki jeans, but underneath a heavy leather apron like blacksmiths wear, because the man was working in a small humble blacksmith shop, and he wore muddy looking boots on his feet. The spiky haired brunette brought the blade out of the water, and the blade was straight and shiny, and there was no more steam. The man smiled at his work. He brought the sword up to his face and made it horizontal in front of him.

"Huh, not bad," the man sighed, and then put a finger on the blade, but the blade wasn't fully cooled off, so he singed his finger and immediately took it off the hot blade.

"Ouch!" the man exclaimed as he put the sword down gently and held the hand that had the burnt index finger. The man inhaled and looked up, and then exhaled as he looked back at his burnt finger, and he continued to inhale and then exhale, and then look up, and then back at his finger, and so on and so on. The man wasn't alone in the shop, there was also a woman with him, and she looked to be a few years younger than he, and the man looked to be in his mid-twenties. The woman had short black hair. She wore a beautiful red t-shirt with shiny yellow lining, and matching red dress pants, and red sneakers, and she had amber brown eyes, like the man. The woman stood at the front of the shop, looking out for any customers, but the land in which they lived was very desolate, very hard to find a city in these parts. All that was there were maybe a few houses and farmland, and people were out working on their farms, but in the old fashioned way; no combines or tractors, just horses and cattle and crop fields. The woman giggled as she watched the grown man overreact to his injured finger.

"Oh, come on Kai, you're being a bit dramatic. Just go run your finger under some cold water and you'll be fine," the woman said to the man, Kai.

"Hey, you're my sister, not mom, Nya. You can't always tell me what to do," Kai said to the woman, which was his sister, Nya.

"A thousand pardons. I didn't mean for my love for my brother to make you feel weak," Nya said sarcastically.

"Easy sarcastic," Kai protested.

"And you would think a guy who's been a blacksmith for a good long while would know NOT to touch a scorching blade that was just made," Nya added.

"Don't back sass the guy who made all this," Kai said as he forgot about his finger, and pointed to pieces of metal that were formed into things like metal chest plates and helmets for samurai armor, and other swords and daggers, "this is true art work right here," Kai said with a smirk.

Nya rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know Kai, you've been determined to make stuff like this ever since you made that vow to be a better blacksmith than dad was—ever since dad died," Nya said sadly.

Kai frowned at this and walked up to Nya. "Dad may not have been around for long—and mom was never really around for you either ever since the day she died shortly after you were born—but they wouldn't want us to grieve over their deaths, right?" Kai said softly with a smile.

Nya closed her eyes as Kai cupped her face, and a tear rolled down her face.

"Couldn't have said it better myself," an elderly male voice came. Kai and Nya looked behind them and found an old man standing at the front of the shop. This man was maybe a few inches shorter than Kai, he had bright blue eyes, wore white clothes that covered his arms and legs, and white shoes. On his shirt were black sashes and a black sash across his waist like a belt. Surprisingly, the old man had such a long white beard that it was practically long enough to reach his torso, and he wore a straw sun hat atop his head, and in one hand, he held a wooded staff, and it acted as his walking stick.

"Who are you old man?" Kai asked with a scowl.

"Kai," Nya growled for being disrespectful to the elderly.

"No, no, do not worry, I am aware that I am old—but the point being—I came looking for something," the old man said, "oh, where are my manners, my name is Wu, but my students call me Sensei Wu," the old man, Sensei Wu, chuckled a bit, and offered a handshake out to Kai and Nya.

Nya was the first to smile and take his hand. "Hello, sir, I'm Nya, and this is my older brother Kai, can we help you find anything in particular?" Nya asked, and stopped shaking Wu's hand.

"Whoa, hold on, 'student', what are you, like, a mentor or teacher or something?" Kai cut in.

"Or something, I am a sensei that teaches a rare yet powerful martial arts that was passed down from my father," Wu replied.

"But back to the point, what are you looking for, Wu?" Nya asked.

Wu was just about to open his mouth to speak, when a boom in the valley was heard, and the ground began to shake with it. Nya whimpered, and Kai grabbed his frightened sister.

"Hold on, Nya," Kai demanded. Suddenly the once beautiful blue sky was filled with black and dark purple smoggy clouds as a beacon of black and purple light burst from the ground just over a hill in the distance.

"First came a boom, then an earthquake and creepy dark clouds. What's next, the walking dead?!" Kai exclaimed.

As if on cue, from the beacon in the distance came massive vehicles, they had monster truck wheels, and had skull like designs on them, and they began to rev and drive right towards the blacksmith shop. But driving these scary vehicles were actually the walking dead, they were skeletons with no skin on their bones, and inside the pits of their skulls where their eyes would be were nothing but bit glowing purple light that acted as pupils, and the skeleton people would wear chest plates and helmets for armor, and a few had shields, swords and spears for weapons. There was one skull vehicle that was bigger than the others, and driving it was a bigger and more bulky skeleton with more armor and glowing red eyes. After the skeleton people began to drive closer to where Nya, Wu, and Kai were, they ravaged through farms and terrorized people—even running over and crushing some unlucky people. They began to come into better vision, and Nya could see who was driving the big monster trucks.

"You had to ask!" Nya exclaimed sarcastically.

Kai pushed Nya away and ran to the back of the shop and grabbed some of the armor that was made. Kai first put on some chest armor, and then slipped on a helmet, and looked over to the sword he just made earlier, and picked it up. "Time to see how well this works in battle," Kai said as he looked at the sword. Kai ran a short ways out of the shop, until Nya shouted,

"Kai, wait, you-," Nya called after Kai, but Kai stopped and interrupted her.

"You two stay here, if they want anything here, they can have me to thank when they won't get it," Kai growled, and glared at the fast approaching skull trucks and scary skeleton people.

"But, Kai…" Nya protested, but her voice trailed off, "Wu, do you know what those creatures are?" Nya asked Wu worriedly.

"I believe they are the Skullkin, horrible, murderous, and evil creatures created from the bones and remains of other carcasses of dead bodies. Their soul purpose is to serve any evil they can come across, and their leader is the biggest one, he goes by the name Samukai," Wu explained loud enough for Nya to hear over the screaming and rumbling as he tried to focus on the biggest Skullkin creature driving the biggest truck.

"What can I do to defeat them?" Nya asked.

"Grab any weapon you can and fight like there is no tomorrow!" Wu exclaimed, despite that he was old, he wasn't frail, he ran onto the battle field, and Nya took his advice as she went to the back of the shop to find a weapon.

Meanwhile, as Kai waited for the Skullkin to arrive, they did, the Skullkin halted their vehicles many yards away from Kai, but they began to flee their trucks and headed right for the shop. Kai got into fighting stance as he scowled at the ugly skeleton creatures. Kai let out a battle cry as he stormed towards the nearest Skullkin, and the Skullkin was wearing chest and head armor, and he was wielding a spear in his claw like bony hands. The skeleton cackled as he watched Kai run towards him. When Kai finally reached the skeleton, there was the sound of loud clashing metal, and Kai had a grin on his face, thinking he defeated the Skullkin, but when he looked, his sword had snapped in two, and the piece he held in his hand was all bent up. Kai whimpered as he dropped the other half of the sword and held up his hands in defense and the Skullkin reared his spear back to strike Kai. Suddenly it seemed that a blade from behind the skeleton cut right through the bone neck of the Skullkin, but his head didn't fall off.

"Huh?" the Skullkin looked confused as he looked down to see his neck.

"Batter up!" Nya's voice rang from behind the Skullkin, and with that, she used the blade of her sword to hit the Skullkin's head off and decapitate it, and the skeleton's body fell soon after. Kai looked at his sister with shock.

"You would also think an experienced blacksmith would also know not to use a newly made piece of metal—not so experienced, in my opinion," Nya said with a smirk. The funny moment was soon ended with a loud thud when Samukai came crashing feet first onto the ground behind Nya, and stared at her with his glowing eyes. Nya turned around slowly to look at Samukai.

"Oh god; giant Halloween decoration!" Nya exclaimed and leapt behind Kai to hide.

"Stay back," Kai demanded Nya, and she took a few steps back, "come on, Achmed, just try and blow me up!" Kai yelled at Samukai.

But suddenly without warning, another pair of arms unfolded from behind Samukai's back, and he now had four arms, and clutched within each of his four claw hands a razor sharp dagger.

"Hmm, you will regret saying that—when I take away your beloved sister," Samukai said in a haggish and scratchy voice.

"What?" Nya whimpered.

Suddenly, Samukai threw his four daggers, and they were hurtling towards Kai and Nya. As the daggers went towards the two, everything slowed down and went silent. But luckily, a staff came out in front of Kai and Nya, and it was Wu's staff, he used his staff to block the daggers, and it resulted in all four blades to get stuck in the wooden staff. As soon as the daggers splintered the wood, everything was at normal pace again, and the growls of the Skullkin and the terrorized screams of bystanders could be heard again. Samukai grinned at the sight of Wu.

"Wu, nice to see you—your brother has spoken about you before," said Samukai.

"Garmadon," Wu said silently with a shocked face.

Samukai chuckled, and then turned towards one of the trucks. "You know what to do!" Samukai exclaimed to the Skullkin driving the nearest truck, and the skeleton nodded to Samukai.

On the truck was what seemed to be a giant grabbing claw, but with a long chain that extended, and the big grabbing claw took the appearance of a skull and its mouth was the grabber. The skeleton aimed the claw at a certain angle, but it was aimed straight for Kai and Nya's direction. Without warning the claw was shot from the truck, and its claw was open as it aimed right at Nya.

Nya noticed the claw, and gasped. "Kai, look out!" Nya shouted as she pushed Kai away from her, and in a split second, the open claw landed right around Nya, and it clamped down on her, and Nya winced and shrieked in pain.

"Kai, get away from here!" Wu shouted.

"No, they're taking my sister, I'm not leaving without a fight or Nya!" Kai snapped.

"Ninja-Go!" Wu's voice rang as he was soon engulfed in a miniature golden and yellow tornado and he spun his way over to Kai and swept Kai with him and took him away from the spot.

Meanwhile, Nya was still trapped in the skull claw, and suddenly the chain was being pulled from the truck, and the claw was being pulled back with it. Nya screamed as the claw and herself was pulled onto the truck, and she was now in the Skullkins' clutches.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Kai screamed each time he was spun around in Wu's spinning fighting style, until Wu finally stopped spinning and Kai was flung a few feet and landed on his back on the ground. Kai groaned and sat up as he rubbed his back.

"Oh, I think I fell on my keys," Kai groaned, and then he gasped and his eyes widened when he noticed the Skullkin were revving their monster trucks, and they drove away over the hills and towards the black and purple beacon shooting from the ground in the distance, and after a few seconds passed when the trucks disappeared over the hill, the beacon went away too, as well as the dark clouds. Kai was panting a bit, and then he screamed in rage towards the sky. After a few seconds of screaming, Kai stopped and stood up.

"Kai, please, I was trying to help you," said Wu.

"No, you didn't help, you did nothing to save Nya, oh, you could've used that stupid spinning or twist-itzu thing to save her, but no, you only saved me!" Kai snapped, and sighed and began to walk, "I'm going to go find her, whether you're coming or not," Kai growled.

"I hate to burst your bubble, but where they took your sister is a place a mortal like you cannot go," said Wu.

Kai stopped and turned to Wu. "What are you talking about?" Kai asked angrily.

"Where they took your sister isn't in this world—they crossed over to a world only they can reach—the Under World—it is a terrible place where the evilest of creatures live, and a human like you, I'm afraid, can't just merely cross over from this world to the Under World," Wu explained.

"Why are you telling me all this, why are you even here?!" Kai exclaimed.

"It's like I said, I came looking for something—long ago, when this beloved world of ours, Ninjago, was first created by the god we know as the First Spinjitzu Master-," Wu began, but Kai cut him off.

"Spinjitzu?" Kai cut in.

"Please, no interruptions—anyway, when he first created the land with the four elements: fire, ice, earth, and lightening, he also made four weapons from gold to wield and control the elements, they were known as The Sword of Fire, The Shurikens of Ice, The Scythe of Quakes, and The Nun chucks of Lightening—not only did he have the weapons to look after, he also had his two sons, but when he passed away, his oldest son succumbed to evil, and the youngest son had to fight against his own brother, and once the battle between brothers ended—the oldest brother was sent to the Under World," Wu explained sadly.

Kai's face softened at this. "You were the younger brother," Kai said.

Wu sighed, "Yes, and the older brother—my older brother—his name is Garmadon—and I'm sensing he struck a deal with Samukai and his Skullkin army to try and retrieve the golden weapons to take over Ninjago," Wu replied sadly.

"Well then, why'd he take Nya if he's looking for these so called 'golden weapons'?" asked Kai.

"Because after Garmadon was sent to the Under World, I knew I had to do something to keep the golden weapons out of the wrong hands, so I took each golden weapon and hid them in a secret location, and each location had a guard to protect the golden weapons, and with each location I hid them, I drew a map so I would know where they were, but I knew I couldn't keep the map, it was too risky, so I had to give the map to the most trustworthy man I knew—that man was your father," said Wu.

Kai was shocked. "My dad, you gave the map to my dad?" Kai questioned.

"Yes, and the reason Garmadon wanted your sister is because he must believe the offspring of the man I gave the map to must also know about the map," said Wu.

"But our dad never said anything about a map," Kai said worriedly, "oh no, what'll happen if Garmadon asks Nya about the map and she doesn't know anything?" Kia whimpered.

Wu didn't answer, all he did was walk back to the blacksmith shop and looked up the shingles of the roof of the shop.

"What are you doing?" Kai asked as he went after Wu. Wu didn't reply again, all he did was take his staff to reach up to the shingles of the roof, and he hit them so hard they broke, and a few tiles slid off the roof.

"Hey, what are you doing messing up this roof?" Kai asked angrily, only to be answered by a shingle that fell onto his head. "Ow," Kai said immediately after the tile hit his head.

Wu only held out his hand under the spot where he hit the roof, and as if on cue, a rolled up piece of parchment fell right into Wu's palm.

"I thought he might hide it up there," Wu said as he smiled at the rolled up paper.

"Is—is that the map?" asked Kai.

"Yes it is, but if you want to save your sister, than come with me—and I will teach you the art of Spinjitzu," Wu said and he began to walk away.

Kai watched Wu walk away, and then sighed. "Fine, I'll come with you," Kai said and began to follow Wu, "but I have a bad feeling this will turn out just like Kung Fu Panda," Kai murmured.

* * *

In a different terrain, one with mountains here and there, it was a bright and peaceful day, Kai and Wu were climbing up the tallest mountain, but along the sides of the mountain was a twisted stone staircase that went up to a distant building at the top of the hill. The mountain was so tall it went above the clouds, and Kai was breathless from so much climbing, but Wu seemed just fine, but neither of them were very close to the top.

"Wu-," Kai began, only to be cut off by Wu.

"Ah, ah, ah, now that I've taken you under my wing, now must call me Sensei Wu," Sensei Wu snapped.

"Fine, Sensei Wu—why do we have to travel so far up here?" Kai panted.

"Because up here is where you will be training," Sensei Wu replied.

After a few more flights of stairs up the mountain, Kai and Sensei Wu reached to top. But what Kai saw at the top was something he did not expect, it was a monastery.

The monastery was round, and at the center of the monastery was nothing but pavement, and nothing was in the middle. When Kai entered through the open gates of the monastery, he was shocked.

"A monastery, you expect me to fight in a place of peace?" Kai questioned.

"I didn't say fight, I said train," said Sensei Wu.

"Train where, there's nothing here," Kai said as he looked around the empty place.

"That is one thing a ninja must learn, he must learn to see what others cannot," Sensei Wu said as he walked up to a wooden pedestal with a small dragon statue.

"Ninja?" asked Kai. Sensei Wu didn't answer all he did was take his staff to the dragon statue, and the statue, surprisingly, flipped up, and under it a small red button was revealed. Kai quirked and eye brow, but Sensei Wu pressed the button with a finger, and with it, a training course appeared from below the pavement of the empty space.

There were swinging dummies, a punching bag that was being swung from a center pillar all around the place, there were other wooden pillars that moved rapidly up and down, or side to side.

Suddenly, the swinging punching bag came out of nowhere and hit Kai, but Kai couldn't let go, so the slug buddy took Kai with it. Sensei Wu sighed.

"This is going to take a while," Sensei Wu sighed.

* * *

The time of day changed, now the sun was setting, and the sky had turned mostly dark purple, but with a few hints of orange.

At the monastery, Sensei Wu was sitting cross legged on the wood deck the lead to the monastery's entrance doors. Kai was no longer wearing the samurai armor or his blacksmith leather apron, now he was just wearing usual clothes, a white t-shirt, khakis, and sneakers.

Kai was running through the course at lightening speed. He would wisp past the sideways motion pillars, and would jump on and off the up and down moving pillars quickly. Once he was off the pillars, a sword came out in front of him and was about to slash at his head, when Kai bent backwards and dodged the blade. Kai looked up, now all that was left was the swinging slug buddy. Kai waited for the slug buddy to hit him, and when it did, Kai was taken away with it away again, but this time, Kai grabbed onto the chain holding up the slug buddy and held onto it. When the slug buddy was just feet away from being in front of Sensei Wu, Kai jumped off of it, and landed feet first on the ground in front of the old man, and was panting.

Sensei Wu smiled. "Hmm, out of the other countless times you failed, this time, you passed," said Sensei Wu.

"Great—now when can I learn this special Spinjitzu I've heard about so I can save my sister?" Kai asked flatly.

Sensei Wu stood up, and opened the doors to the monastery. "You shall see, but for now, I suggest you get some sleep," said Sensei Wu said, and with that, he left the doors open for Kai to come in and walked into the building.

Kai sighed and went into the building too, but what he didn't notice were three dark human figures sitting on the roof watching Kai.

The three figures were dressed in black ninja suits, and they had their masks up, so their faces and hair were not visible, all that was visible were a pair of eyes. One of the three figures had emerald green eyes and big black bushy eye brows and he pale white skin, the other figure had white skin to, and he had blue eyes and light brown eyes brows, and one eye brow had a scar, and the third figure had silver colored eyes and blond eye brows, and he had pale skin too. The figure with the bushy eye brows was holding a scythe, the figure with a scarred eye brow was holding a pair of nun chucks, and the figure with the silver eyes was holding a shuriken in each hand. The three figures seemed to have the body shapes of men, and they looked at each other and nodded as they all leapt off the roof.

* * *

The sky was now completely black and was filled with stars and a crescent moon.

Kai was now dressed in red pajamas, he wore long pajama pants and a short sleeved red shirt. He was in the bathroom and was brushing his teeth. But what Kai didn't notice as he brushed his teeth were the three same figure dressed in black from outside were traveling between the gap of the building's roof and the support pillars, and the figures sat in silence on the pillars. After Kai spit out some toothpaste foam, he looked at himself in the mirror.

"Get some sleep huh, yeah right, I don't need sleep," Kai scoffed, and rinsed his mouth and tooth brush. But as Kai was rinsing, he didn't notice the three dark figure drop silently from the ceiling, the one with the nun chucks hid behind the shower curtains in the bathroom, and the one with the scythe along with the one holding shurikens hid behind the pillars that supported the doorway to the bathroom in the hall.

When Kai finished rinsing, he walked out of the bathroom, but because of the pillars, he didn't notice the two figures standing in the hall, so he just continued to walk down the hall. The man that hid behind the showers curtain in the bathroom walked out of the room and up to the other two men in black. The three looked at each other and nodded, and followed Kai in silent pursuit. Kai was walking in the direction that led to the doors to exit the building to get to his room, so when Kai looked, he did a double take to finally notice the three men, so he got into fighting stance.

* * *

Outside in the empty space of the monastery was quite peaceful, but that peace was not to last because without warning when Kai and the other three men came bursting through the doors and were all wrestling with each other. But the three men got confused and began to fight each other. The man with the shurikens and silver eyes accidently punched the man with blue eyes and nun chucks in the stomach.

"Ow, you're supposed to hit the other guy!" the man with blue eyes groaned in a comedic high pitched voice as he held his stomach.

"Sorry, I got confused," the man with silver eyes replied in a velvety voice.

Meanwhile, Kai was still fighting the man with black bushy eye brows that was wielding a scythe. The man tried to swing his scythe to Kai's legs to knock Kai off his feet, but Kai jumped up and dodged it. But unlucky for Kai, the man turned his scythe so the pointy end of the blade pointed down, and he brought the other end of the scythe up and hit Kai in the place where the sun doesn't shine. Kai winched and fell to his knees in defeat after the man brought his scythe away.

"Enough, all of you!" Sensei Wu's voice boomed. All the men, and Kai meekly, looked up to find Sensei Wu with his staff in hand and was scowling at them. The three men took down their masks and their faces became visible.

The man with pale skin and bushy eye brows and green eyes had a mop of shaggy black hair that didn't reach his shoulders, but it was a few inches from there, and he had some bangs, the man with the scarred eye brow and blue eyes had short and wavy brunette hair, and the man that had silver eyes had blond hair that was so light colored, it was practically white, and his short hair managed to stand up a bit.

"Cole, you should know better than to treat a new student like that," Sensei Wu said angrily to the man with the black hair and scythe, who's name was Cole. And each man looked to be around Kai's age.

"Wait, new student?" Cole asked with shock.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Sensei, you never said anything about a new student, it's not four, it's three, three little pigs, three musketeers, three blind mice…" the brunette with nun chucks and blue eyes began but trailed off.

"We get it, Jay," Cole growled at the brunette called Jay. Kai got up slowly, and the pain seemed to go away.

"Are these the students you were talking about before?" asked Kai.

"Yes, they are—and I'd appreciate it if all four of you get along—and introduce yourselves," Sensei Wu said, and eventually smiled.

"Don't know if you've gotten it yet, but the name's Jay Walker," Jay introduced himself to Kai and stuck out a hand. Kai snickered, and took Jay's hand.

"Jay Walker?" Kai asked while trying not to laugh, but was failing. Jay's smile went away when he and Kai stopped shaking hands.

"Ugh, yes I know what my last name is, don't remind me—the kids at my school would always make fun of my name," Jay groaned.

"Hey, I'm Cole Bucket, and before you say anything, yes you heard my last name correctly, but I'm also team leader, so I suggest that you keep your trap shut—but despite all that, I got your back, and I ain't afraid of anything in this world," Cole said as he brought his scythe to Kai's throat to emphasize what he said, but then he brought it away.

"Well, that is not one hundred percent true, Cole is actually afraid of dragons," the silver eyed blond haired man said in his soft velvety voice.

"Zane, I just said to tweak it—and dragons aren't in this world," Cole corrected the blond named Zane.

"Uh, yeah, in fact, they're not even real," Kai snickered again.

"What'd I just say?" Cole growled at Kai.

"Yeah, whatever, I'm Kai—apparently, I'm the new student you were never aware of," Kai introduced himself to the three men.

"But, Sensei, now that we have a new student, what are we all to do now?" asked Zane.

"First—we must get you four fitted," Sensei Wu replied with a smile.

There was a long pause.

"Uh—fitted?" Jay asked, breaking the silence.

Sensei Wu didn't reply to Jay, he simply jerked himself one way, and did Spinjitzu again as he was engulfed in a golden mini tornado like before. Wu spun his way towards the four men, and actually Spinjitzu-ed right into the four men one at a time. He went from Zane, to Jay, to Kai, and last but not lest, Cole. When Wu stopped spinning and was no longer engulfed in his golden light, the black clothes Cole, Jay, and Zane were wearing, and Kai's pajamas had all changed. The clothes they were wearing were all the same design, but were in different colors. Each of them were wearing their own ninja suits, with leather straps across their waist and over their shoulders. And each of the suits was in a different color, Cole's suits was as black as night, like the suit he was just wearing, Jay's suit was a dark blue color, Zane's suit was as white as snow, and Kai's suit was a dark red.

"Wait, why am I still wearing black?" asked Cole, as he looked at his new suit.

"Ooh, cool magic trick, oh, oh, oh, pull a bunny or some flowers out of your sun hat next, Sensei!" Jay said enthusiastically, and he wasn't being sarcastic.

"Is he always like this?" Kai whispered to Cole.

"You have no idea," Cole grumbled in reply.

Sensei Wu chuckled, "Who says you cannot teach an old dog new tricks—but the point being, you are a ninja team, and these colors you now wear symbolizes your elemental powers," said Sensei Wu.

"Elemental?" asked Zane.

"Powers?" asked Kai.

"Let me explain: Cole," Sensei Wu said as he walked over to Cole, "you are the black ninja, and master of earth—they say no matter how the wind blows, the mighty mountain will not bow to it, just like you will never succumb to evil or lose faith in all that is good, you are too strong for that—just like the element you control," Sensei Wu explained, and Cole bowed.

"Jay," Wu said as he walked over to Jay, "blue ninja, the master of lightening—you have the jokes and snappy comebacks that are as fast as the lightening powers you control," Wu said, and then chuckled, "but you also have that glow from the lightening that shines to show everyone the light in the darkest and stormiest of skies," Wu continued, and Jay smiled at this.

"Zane," Wu said and proceeded towards Zane, "you are the white ninja, and the master of ice—many say that ice can be a cold, cruel, and harsh force, but when used for good reasons—the ice that flows trough you will never melt, just like you will never stop protecting Ninjago, and Ninjago will never lose faith in you," Sensei Wu explained. Zane blinked at this, but kept a straight face and nodded. Sensei Wu looked at Kai and walked in front of him.

"And last but not least Kai, the red ninja, and master of fire—just like the other elements the others control, they stand for good, and your element shines the brightest, caressing everything with its warm grasp—and Kai I have but one thing to say for you: When you find that your back is up against the wall, because your element is too powerful and too tall; then you must make a sacrifice to stand for good, and then everyone will honor the ground on which you stood; and believe me when I say this has not been said many times, but it works, because it rhymes," Sensei Wu said, and then smiled. Everyone got a chuckle out of Sensei's 'advice.'

"Wise and humorous—wasn't expecting that," Kai said with a smirk.

"Indeed," said Sensei Wu, "but for now, we must get ready to head out—we have a long journey ahead of us," Sensei Wu said as he turned and he started to walk back inside the monastery.

"Wait, I thought you said to get some sleep!" Kai called to his new teacher.

"Oh, that was just a test to see if you would be ready for the accidental ambush by the others," Wu said as he stopped and turned, "even though I knew it would happen," Wu continued.

"So, it wasn't really 'accidental'?" Kai asked with air quotes.

"Apparently not—but get ready men, we will be heading out when the moon reaches its peak," said Sensei Wu. The four ninja looked up at the waning gibbous moon that was high in the sky, but not quite where Wu said it would eventually be.

"But, it will be there in about forty-five minutes," Zane protested, but kept calm.

"Then I suggest that all of you stop talking and start packing for the trip, and if you are not ready by the time we are meant to leave, then we will leave without you, am I clear, my students?" Sensei Wu asked firmly.

"Yes, Sensei," Cole, Jay, and Zane said in unison, but Kai wasn't ready.

"How about you, new pupil?" Wu pressed on.

"Aye," Kai simply said.

"I'll take that as a yes," said Sensei Wu.

"Whoa, hold on, why would Kai come here with you in the first place, Sensei?" asked Jay.

"Because these freaky undead guys kidnapped my sister," Kai replied.

"Oh, we're saving a girl, is she pretty?" Jay asked with a goofy smile, and Kai shot him a death glare, and things went silent for a moment. "What's her type?" Jay asked quickly, breaking the silence.

"Shut up!" Kai snapped.

"Do I need to hit you with this thing, again?" Cole growled as he brought his scythe to Kai's throat again, and brought Kai out of his argument with Jay.


	2. Chapter 2 - New Girl

Chapter 2 - New Girl

The Skullkin army that kidnapped Nya were in a huge, dark, underground chamber. Torches hugged the wall and kept the chamber dimly lit, and pools of lava would glow as well, making it hot and steamy in the chamber.

Samukai, the Skullkin Lord, and two other Skullkin warriors were with him. And with the three skeletons had a female lithe figure wrapped in chains with them, and she was struggling to break free of the skeletons' grip and the chains, but to no avail. The woman in chains was none other than Nya. Her amber eyes were full with worry and she was panting and sweating.

"Where am I, who are you, why am I here, you giant Halloween decoration?!" Nya exclaimed.

One of the Skullkin that was holding Nya gasped, and just burst out crying and sobbed as he ran away.

"Oh great, now you've offended him," the other Skullkin warrior growled.

"You are dismissed Knuckle—I'm taking her to see Him," Samukai said with a grin to the Skullkin holding Nya who's name was Knuckle.

"Him, him who?!" Nya asked in shock.

"You know you ask too many questions, and I don't like that—so be quiet the rest of the way and be a good little girl for me, hmm?" Samukai said as he grabbed a dagger, grabbed Nya and put the blade up to her neck, and they began to walk further into the hot chamber, "but I guess I like your curiosity, so I'll tell you a little something about my boss—he doesn't like cowards, and he doesn't like it when he doesn't get the answers he's looking for, so I suggest you cooperate with the dark lord and future ruler of Ninjago," Samukai instructed harshly into Nya's ear and he gripped with his claw bone hands onto Nya's arm. Nya winced with Samukai's death grip as they kept walking.

Eventually, Samukai lead Nya to the top of a spiraling staircase that lead down a dark hole in the ground.

"Watch your steep, little lady," Samukai warned sarcastically. Nya carefully made her way down the long flight of spiraling stairs while still in Samukai's grip. When the two got to the bottom, Samukai grabbed a stray lit torch nearby on the wall, and used it to light the way.

After walking into a separate and smaller chamber and walking over a bridge that was made of nothing but bones and ropes, they stepped onto a giant stone platform, and then they stopped. Nya was confused.

"Why are we stopping?" Nya asked quickly.

"Because the boss is in here," Samukai sighed.

"Here? Where?" asked Nya.

"Shut it!" called an echo like and male voice.

Suddenly, on the other side of the room, a giant black, yet transparent shadowy figure appeared up against the wall. The shadow was shaped like a man, and it looked like he wore a Mongolian hat with a bone crest atop his head, and he had glowing red eyes, and the shadow towered by many feet tall. Nya gasped and whimpered.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot about my horrible appearance that always has an affect on people when it comes to first impressions," the shadow said sarcastically, "leave us, Samukai—I'll deal with her on my own," the shadow growled. Samukai nodded.

"Yes, Garmadon," Samukai said to the shadow named Garmadon, and left the room, leaving Nya with the terrifying shadowy Garmadon.

"I hope the Skullkin treated you well," Garmadon said sarcastically, "but you're here so I can ask you a question, so tell me—where is that map?" asked Garmadon. Nya had a look of shock and confusion.

* * *

It was a starry night over a forest. An old and unused trail cut through the forest. A deer, a doe, began to make a few graceful steps across the path, until she froze and her ears shot forwards towards five creatures that were walking towards her, but she stood there staring. The creatures were actually full grown horses, and they took big clomping hoof steps across the trail as they were each carrying a ninja or Sensei Wu. Cole noticed the deer and stared at her, but then the deer left the staring contest and turned into the forest.

"Ugh, I'm so hungry, I think I'd kill to get that deer and have me some deer meat chili," Cole groaned.

"Shut it Cole, you're not the only one at the verge of boredom and death here," Kai groaned back at Cole.

Suddenly a loud snore emerged from Jay who was trailing behind, apparently he fell asleep in the saddle, but managed to sit up. At least, until Jay couldn't support his tired body and he leaned out of the saddle and fell off his horse, but his foot was caught in the stirrup, so he was dragged. While Jay was dragged, he still didn't wake up, and his horse just kept walking. Everyone looked back in surprise at this.

"Uh, maybe we should stop and set up camp here, besides, we've made up a lot of ground already, so we might not need to travel as much in the morning," said Sensei Wu.

A while later, it was still dark, but now the ninja team had dismounted their horses and tied them up to a nearby log, and built a campfire.

"As tempting as it is, don't ask me to sing The Campfire Song Song," Kai said sarcastically. It was quiet the next moment. "So, how'd all you guys come to meet Sensei Wu and all that, I mean, you know my story, so you tell me yours," Kai said, breaking the silence.

"Well, actually we're all here because we owe Wu our lives," Zane replied.

"Really?" asked Kai.

"Yeah, I was out mountain climbing once and my rope snapped, but just when I thought I'd fall to my death, Wu came out of nowhere and gave me a hand," Cole explained.

"Yes, and I was merely taking a stroll in the frigid Birch Wood Forest, when I suddenly realized I was walking over a frozen lake, and it wasn't until I walked onto a weak spot that I realized it, but before I fell in, Sensei Wu came in unexpectedly, like Cole said, and saved me," Zane explained in his soft voice.

Suddenly footsteps were heard, and they guys turned to find Jay awake, and he was scratching himself for some reason.

"Weren't you asleep?" asked Kai. Jay sat down next to Cole.

"Yeah, but 'someone' put me down by an ant hill, and they're itching like crazy," Jay complained as he scowled at Cole, and Cole chuckled.

"So Jay, how did you meet Wu?" asked Kai.

"Huh?" Jay asked because he was to busy scratching.

"How did you become part of the team?" asked Kai.

"Oh, well, you never would've guessed, but I always loved tech and inventing stuff, and I was trying to make a homemade lightening rod for my parent's place, and I tried to do it before a storm was going to hit, but I had bad timing, but lucky for me, Wu warned me just before a lightening bolt came down and fried me," Jay explained with enthusiasm.

"And yet—here I am just trying to learn this Spinjitzu fighting style just to save my sister. I don't owe him anything," Kai sighed.

"Perhaps not—but he is willing to help you retrieve your sister, truly, you must be thankful for that," said Zane.

"Well—I guess that's true," Kai admitted as he and the other three looked over at Sensei Wu who was rather distant as he stood many feet away and stared at the moon.

Suddenly, a low and deep growl was heard. Cole clutched his stomach, meaning his stomach was growling from hunger.

"Ugh, I'm so hunger—if I ever see that deer again, I'm making deer meat chili out of it," Cole growled.

A light thud was heard from behind everyone, but they paid no mind.

"Huh, well, judging by the lack of civilization, you aren't getting such a fancy dish," said a feminine voice. This made the boys, even Wu, turn to look behind them, and there standing was a girl, who was maybe about thirteen or fourteen years old, she was about five feet tall, and for some reason she wore sunglasses over her eyes, and though she wore an old and beat up looking brown cloak with the hood up, a bit of long brown hair streamed out from the sides of the hood, under her cloak were some more old, raggedy clothes.

Lying in front of her was the doe from earlier, except it lay dead in front of her and had an arrow that was driven deep into its chest, and on the girl's back she wore a bow and quiver filled with arrows. The girl pulled her hood down, and the boys just looked confused at her.

"Who are you, ma'am?" asked Zane.

"Usually I don't just tell people my name," the girl replied as her smile went away.

"Ok—well, then how 'bout we call you—Hunter?" asked Jay, with a smile. The girl pondered this, and then smiled.

"Not too bad, I like that name," the girl, now known as Hunter, said, "now, are you gonna take this offer or not?" asked Hunter as she pointed at the dead deer.

"Uh, wait, why are you giving us this deer, anyway?" Cole asked as Hunter leaned down and clutched the arrow in the deer in her hand. And Hunter ripped the bloody arrow out of the animal.

"Because I don't want people to live the terrible and lonely life I live—so whenever I come across a desolate and wandering soul out here, I help them out—you guys for instance," Hunter explained sadly. Hunter began to turn and leave into the dark forest.

"Wait, you aren't leaving, are you?" Jay asked with shock. This got Hunter's attention, so she stopped and turned to look at them.

"Yes, young Hunter, why don't you stick around with us for a while? You seem to know how to use that bow," Sensei Wu said as he suddenly walked up to the conversation.

"A-are you sure? I mean, I don't want to impose," said Hunter.

"Certainly not—you have captured us a meal, the least we could do is offer you some hospitality," Zane said with a smile. Hunter began to smile softly.

"Oh, ok, but I won't stick around for too long—now I'll be right back, I've got an arrow head to clean," Hunter said as she held up the bloody arrow head.

"Wait, hold up, Hunter, clear me out on something here. Why are you wearing sun glasses at night?" Kai asked, causing Hunter to stop in her tracks again.

"Oh, well, you see, I-I'm—blind," Hunter said sheepishly.

"But if you're blind, then how did you see to shoot this doe down, huh?" Kai asked as he began to scowl. Hunter chuckled awkwardly, and turned around.

"I guess I'm just that talented," Hunter replied, but the others didn't know she wasn't smiling, she wore a look of fear on her face, and then she finally left the camp site.

Hunter walked a few yards, until she stopped. She heard nothing but wind and swaying leaves, until she heard faint running water.

"Ah, a river due east," Hunter said as she smiled and continued on.

When she finally arrived at a nearby stream, she leaned down and began to clean the dry blood and fur off the arrow head. But Hunter leaned her head down to the point where her hair was blocking most of her face, she took off her sunglasses, but from her eyes that were not visible because of her droopy locks, a light purple glow meekly shined from where her eyes would be.

After a few minutes of cleaning, Hunter placed her sunglasses back on her face and stood up with a clean arrow. Hunter smiled at the clean arrow.

"Much better," Hunter muttered.

Suddenly a light caw was heard from a tree above Hunter. Hunter looked up, only to find that a falcon with dark feathers had swooped down from a tree, and she held out her arm and the falcon landed on her arm.

"Hey, there big guy, how are you?" Hunter asked the falcon softly as she stared into its piercing eyes. The hawks stared at her for a moment, and then looked past her to look at the distant campfire light coming from the ninjas' camp. Hunter noticed this, so she looked at the light, and then back at the bird with a smirk.

"Something with them have to do with you?" asked Hunter. The bird looked at her again, and blinked as it cocked its head. Then the bird began to flutter its big feathery wings a little.

"Alright, alright, don't get your feathers ruffled, no pun intended—I won't hold you back," Hunter chuckled, and with that, she jerked her arm up so the bird could fly away, and it did so as it disappeared into the night sky.

Hunter then continued back towards the camp.

Meanwhile, back with the ninja and Wu at the campsite, the guys were laid back and relaxed as they ate pieces of campfire cooked deer meat, and Sensei Wu sat cross legged close to the fire and just stared at it.

"What the heck does Sensei see in that fire anyway?" asked Kai.

"Well that's ironic, coming from hot-head, here," Cole said with a smirk. Jay chuckled at this, but Zane still had a straight, and also confused, face. Jay's laughing died down when he faced Zane and noticed he wasn't laughing.

"Uh, Zane, you don't find that funny? You see, that's what's called a lack of sense of humor—you need help," Jay said as he face palmed.

"Oh no, of course I found it funny—ha, ha," said Zane, and he laughed very awkwardly and terribly, as if it was a fake laugh, but he kept on smiling.

"I'm gonna go see what's up with him," Kai said, and with, he got up from his spot and walked up to his meditating mentor. "Uh, Sensei, earth to Sensei Wu," Kai said in a sing song voice as he tried to get Wu's attention by waving a hand in front of his face.

"Just because one does not look the other in the eye, does not mean they are not aware of what is happening around them," Sensei Wu said without looking up at Kai.

"Uh, oh, well—why are you staring at the fir? You'll ruin your eyes doing that, and I know, I've worked with enough fires before," said Kai.

"Ah, Kai, you must learn to be more keen. You see, I am not staring at the fire—I am staring into the smoke arising from it," Sensei Wu replied.

"Why?" asked Kai.

"Because experienced people, like myself, know a special tactic—it is known as 'Reading Spirit Smoke'—when this is practiced, people who can clear their mind enough can see things," Wu explained, "things like the future," Wu continued as he finally looked away from the fire and up at Kai.

There was a long pause.

"Uh, ok, that's a bit creepy, but-," Kai began, but only to be cut off by Hunter who just got back.

"Creepy?!" Hunter yelled in anger, "you should have more respect in supernatural things like that, it's not creepy at all!" Hunter snapped, causing everyone to look confused at her. Hunter realized the scene she was making, and she looked down as her face softened. "Sorry," Hunter apologized.

"Why do you care about what Wu and I were talking about?" Kai asked, as Wu stood up beside Kai.

"Uh, nothing, don't worry about it," Hunter replied quickly.

"No, you know what, no more secrets, I may be over reacting right now, but I don't care. I mean, you don't tell us your real name, you wear sunglasses in the dark, and now you're starting a debate team about magic and stuff. What is wrong with you?!" Kai raged as he walked angrily up to Hunter.

The whole time Kai was yelling, Hunter was panicking, and she was panting in fear.

"Stop!" Hunter finally snapped, and everyone, even Kai, looked at her with wide eyes "you're right, I'm keeping secrets from you guys about who I am, and I shouldn't do that—and I've been feared before, so why stop now?" Hunter said with her voice raised at first, but then her voice began to soften. Everyone waited for Hunter's explanation, and she inhaled and exhaled before speaking.

"I wasn't lying to you when I said I was blind, but that's not why I wear sun glasses all the time—you see, I was born blind in both eyes—but my story is a tad different," said Hunter, and she sighed as she took a hand and slowly took off her sunglasses.

Everyone gasped when they saw her eyes. Hunter's eyes weren't normal, their irises were a, literally, sparkling light purple color.

"I was also born with colored irises—throughout my life, every time people saw my 'special' eyes, they saw me as a freak, even my parents rejected me, and they never wanted to get to know me, so I never had any friends. So when I was able to get these sunglasses, I figured I couldn't be around civilization anymore, so I ran away and lived a life of solitude ever since—and I never wanted to tell people my name because I thought because of all the fear I've caused I thought couldn't trust anyone," Hunter explained sadly.

The others looked at each other sadly, and then back at Hunter.

"Look Hunter, all you had to do was tell us you didn't want anything to do with us and we would've let you go—we trust you," Cole spoke up. Hunter pondered this.

"Well then, can I trust you all with one last piece of information?" asked Hunter, everyone nodded in reply. "I also lived my life alone because of this—'talent' I have," said Hunter.

"Talent?" asked Jay.

"Yeah—it's like what Wu said about the Spirit Smoke—I have these flashes that let's me see things like good things, misfortunes—or even the up comings deaths of people—and whenever I tried to warn or tell people about the flashes I had of them, they thought I was deranged and people always flee from me," said Hunter.

There was a long dead silence as this was taken in. Cole walked up to Hunter and put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him.

"Hunter, we understand perfectly, I mean, do you even know who you're talking to—I'm afraid of dragons, Kai's sister was kidnapped by the undead, Jay acts like a child twenty four-seven, and Zane has no sense of humor—and you think you're different?" Cole said in between chuckles, causing Hunter and everyone else laugh, but when they heard their name, they scowled.

"You mean none of you care about my eyes or my powers?" asked Hunter, and everyone shook their head in reply.

"Oh, of course not, Hunter, in fact, I think this power of yours makes you special, not scary—which is why, if you would like to, you could join us on our adventures," said Sensei Wu.

"Really?" Hunter said as she smiled, "I'd love to—I never thought I'd live the day that I'd have something I never had," Hunter sighed.

"What's that?" asked Cole.

"Friends," Hunter replied, causing everyone to smile. Hunter stretched her arms and yawned. "Well guys, I'm going to bed," said Hunter.

"Sleep well, Hunter," said Wu, as he walked away towards the ninja.

"Good night, Hunter," Cole, Kai, and Zane almost said in unison.

"Yeah, what they all said, 'night Hunter," said Jay. Hunter seemed to stare off into space as she nodded lightly and then she looked at the boys again.

"Kate," Hunter simply said.

"What?" asked Kai.

"My real name is Kate," said Hunter, now Kate. Everyone grinned. Kate took out her sunglasses and stared down at them in her hand. Kate smiled and took both hands, and she snapped the pair of sunglasses in two, and then eventually threw the pieces away into a bush.

* * *

As dawn covered the horizon, the ninja, Wu, and Kate woke up and were packing up. But Jay was still asleep, and his head rested close to the fire that wasn't completely out, so Cole took a bucket and poured water onto the fire, causing loud splashing and singeing noises to wake Jay up. Jay scowled at Cole, and then stood up. The ninja mounted their horses, and Kate rode behind Wu on his white horse. The group made their horses walk, and began their trek began again. Kate had an unsettling look on her face. Wu noticed this as he looked at Kate and then in front of his horse again.

"Something wrong Kate?" asked Wu. Kate was reluctant to answer.

"Yes, something is wrong, very wrong. I don't just have flashes, I also have dreams that tell me the future—and last night I had a dream about the ninja," said Kate, and she paused when she heard laughter and indistinct conversation coming from the ninja trailing behind them, "a dream where one of them will meet their fate," Kate continued sadly.

"Hmm, that is depressing and shocking news—but when you believe the time is right, you may tell them what you dreamt," said Wu, and Kate nodded.

"But that's just the point, that's all I can do to help, that's all I've ever been able to do, even if people won't listen," said Kate.

Suddenly, Kai trotted up next to Sensei Wu's horse. "Hey Sensei, where are we going? You never told us what this trip is about, too," said Kai. Wu didn't say anything, he simply grabbed out a rolled up parchment. The map. Wu handed it to Kai, and Kai unrolled it.

On the map were indistinct pictures of a giant land mass with indistinct land structures.

"Kai, do you see the Caves of Despair on that map?" asked Wu.

"You mean the land form that looks like a bunch of caverns?" asked Kai as he stared at the paper.

"Exactly, that's where we are going," said Wu.

"But why there in particular?" asked Kai.

"Because in the caves of despair is the first item on our list that we are looking for: the Scythe of Quakes," Wu said sternly as Kai handed the paper to Kate, who handed it to Wu, and he put it away. The group traveled on their horses for a few peaceful moments, but that peace was not to last.

As they traveled through the wood, a canister making a high pitched squealing noise as air flowed out of its nozzle was thrown from behind some thick brush and landed in front of the group. Everyone slowed their horses as they approached the canister. Kai's eyes went wide and he began to slowly shake his head.

"Why me?" Kai mumbled.

But in the blink of an eye, the can exploded and white clouds of toxic air filled the air and surrounded everyone one. The gas that filled the air was a knock out gas. The ninja were becoming very dizzy and sleepy. After everyone fell from their saddles and collapsed onto the ground, the horses got scared and reared up and ran off together and were never seen again, and things began to go black and fuzzy. The sound of haggish cackling was heard as it approached, and the haggish behind the cackling was all too familiar. It was Samukai and his Skullkin army again.


	3. Chapter 3 - New weapon, new wound

Chapter 3 – New weapon, new wound

Things remained dark, but faint sounds of bugs chirping and wind blowing through the trees could be heard.

As the ninja, their sensei, and Kate woke up, they sat up groaning as they clutched their heads in pain.

"Ugh, what happened?" Jay groaned as he got up, and helped Cole up. Zane walked over to Sensei Wu, who was awake, but he was staring into space as he stayed seated on the ground.

"I'm not much of a Sherlock Holmes guy, but I definitely know for certain we were jumped," Kai replied as he stood too.

"But, by who, and why?" Kate asked as she stood up too.

"Sensei—is something wrong—you seem disturbed," Zane said as Sensei Wu finally gave Zane his hand and Zane helped the old man stand up. Wu stared at nothing for another minute, and then at the others with worry as they stared back at him.

"The Skullkin—they took the map to the Golden Weapons," Wu replied.

Everyone either had wide eyes or gasped at this. Cole turned around and spotted something unusual in the ground.

"Guys, look," said Cole, getting everyone's attention.

Engraved in the dirt were giant monster truck tire tracks and even a few foot prints. The tire tracks looked as if they sped off into the far distance.

"Seems like the bonehead army left us some tracks to follow," said Kai.

"Aw, how nice," Jay said with a smile.

"Uh, one little flaw—our horses ditched us," Cole pointed out.

"Well then, I guess we'll have to foot it the rest of the way," Kate sighed.

"Besides, I like traveling the old fashion way—and we are lucky, since I was the one to hide the weapons myself, I know the map by heart," Wu added. The ninja groaned.

"Oh, come on guys—I didn't have a flash, but I can tell we'll find more means of transportation, soon," Kate reasoned.

"Ugh, you better be right—both of you," Cole groaned.

"Yeah, and he gets cramps from walking too much—and when he gets cramps, he gets cranky," Jay whispered to Kate, and she scoffed.

"Well, he won't want to complain to someone who's armed," Kate said with a grin as she looked at her bow that was placed across her shoulder, and she had her quiver full of arrows strapped on her back.

"Well, my students, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step—so let's move on," Wu said as he walked with his staff in hand, and the others followed in suit, following the tire tracks that traveled far over the horizon.

Little did they know, that up in one of the trees, the black feathered falcon from earlier in the woods with Kate, was perched among a branch and glared down at the traveling group. The yellow eyes didn't stay yellow for long, because when the bird blinked, its eyes went from piercing yellow to a glowing blue color.

* * *

Back in the Under World chambers where the giant shadow known as Garmadon dwelled, Nya was placed in a corner near a small glowing lava pit, but she was held down by chains and shackles that were clamped down on her ankles and wrists. Her eyes remained closed as she sat in silence.

Then the sounds of clattering bones and footsteps approaching were heard. This caused Nya to gasp and look up, only to find a Skullkin warrior and Garmadon's shadow staring down at her. The skeleton looked up at Garmadon, and he looked down at the skeleton and gave him a single nod, the nod was signal, telling the Skullkin to head over to the nearby lava pit.

Inside the lave pit was a long metal bar, and one end of it was placed in the molten rock of the pit. The warrior pulled the thin bar out and it resulted with the end glowing a bright orange color and a little bit of hot rock dripping from it.

The warrior grinned at Nya, and walked over to her with the scorching end of the bar pointed at Nya. Nya shook her head and panted a bit from seeing the heated metal getting closer and closer to her immobile arm.

"You see, my dear, we have a way of doing things here—if most who come here are lucky and are on my good side, I let them go—but on rare occasions, like when I get bratty and stubborn people like you, I don't go so easy on them," Garmadon explained in his intimidating voice.

Suddenly the skeleton warrior jerked Nya's arm in his clawed hands, and moved the hot metal closer to her skin.

"And when I say that, I mean I don't let you mortals forget who I am—so I immortalize a mark on my prey's flesh that will remind them of the regret they had on the day they crossed paths with me," Garmadon explained evilly.

Nya's screams in pain were heard next. Nya's cries soon became Kate's shrieks of terror.

Kate and the others were still traveling, but Kate's eyes were wide. The ninja and Wu turned around and ran back to Kate to aid her. When Kate stopped screaming she began to faint, but Jay caught her in time. Kate was panting and her eyes were droopy.

"Kate, what's wrong?" Kai asked with worry, as he and the others looked down at her.

"It's—a girl," Kate replied meekly a Jay helped her stand straight.

"Girl? Girl who? What girl?" Cole asked rapidly.

"I don't know her name—but she has brown eyes, short black hair, wears red…" Kate explained. Kai gasped at this.

"Nya!" Kai shouted.

"This woman, Nya—do you have something to do with her?" asked Kate.

"Nya's my sister, the one who was kidnapped by the Skullkin," Kai was reluctant to say, "what's happened to her, tell me now!" Kai demanded.

"I had another one of my flashes," Kate sighed.

"Yeah, we get that, Captain Obvious, tell us what you saw," Cole cut in.

"She's in danger of being gravely injured," Kate replied.

"Will she live?" asked Zane with worry.

"I-I think so—but she won't come back alive without any wounds," Kate said sadly.

Kai got angry and huffed. "Come on, we gotta move," Kai said angrily. Kai turned and kept on walking, but he was stomping from his anger.

"Kai, wait, calm-," Kate began, but Kai turned and scowled at her.

"No, you said it yourself, you think she might live—I'm not taking any chances—she's the only family I have left," Kai snapped at first, but his voice began to soften. Everyone was silent for a moment, but Wu smiled.

"Hmm, Kai, you are very loyal to the ones you love, and I admire that—if we move now, and quickly, we might be able to make it to the caves by night fall. It will be dark and we can travel in the shadows; making it easier for us to find the scythe without having to go into battle with the Skullkin," said Wu.

"My senses tell me that is very likely," said Zane.

"Dude, you sound so, I don't know, technical—were your parents part computer or something?" asked Jay. Zane looked at Jay confused.

"Uh—or something?" Zane replied, unsure.

"Guys, now isn't the time," Cole said as he grabbed out his scythe, "if Kai wants his sister, and only family, back then we need to help with just that," Cole continued.

Kai smiled a bit. "Nice to know I have some people who I can trust to have Nya rescued be their top priority at the moment," said Kai. Everyone smiled and gave a single nod in solution with determined faces.

* * *

It is night time now, and the traveling band has now reached a desolate desert like terrain, they weren't in a forest anymore.

Everyone was climbing up a some what steep sand dune. Kate and Wu were up ahead, but the ninja were huffing in exhaustion as they were falling behind.

"Do not worry, the caves are just over this dune," said Wu as he stuck his staff in the sand to help him climb up.

"Yeah right, we've heard that one before," Kai grunted as Wu and Kate reached the top and were looking ahead of the dune.

"Ah, but this time it wasn't inspiration, it was the truth," said Wu.

Finally the ninja made it to the top and they gawked at what was on the other side of the dune.

Down below on more level ground were a group of caverns, and that's not all that was there. The Skullkin and their monster truck skull vehicles were outside the caverns.

"Aw man, we're too late," Jay complained.

"Shush," Wu snapped, "if we travel in the shadows, like I said, we should be just fine," Wu continued.

"Logically speaking, the army would have tried to go into the main entrance—probably stupid enough to think the weapon was hidden down the main door way," Kate said and eventually smirked, but then her smirk went away, "it's not, is it?" Kate quickly asked.

"Of course not, I'm not stupid like the skeleton army is," Wu said with a smile, resulting in everyone getting a light chuckle.

"Cole, inside those caverns is the weapon the earth ninja wields: the Scythe of Quakes. You need to go in there and retrieve it before the Skullkin do," Wu said sternly, causing Cole and the others to stop laughing and listen.

"Yes Sensei," Cole said, and began to carefully make his way down the dune and towards the caverns.

"Oh, and be cautious Cole, I placed a guard for each of the weapons, and if the guard feels you are a threat to the weapon, he won't let you come back out alive," Wu warned Cole.

"Don't worry about me, I ain't afraid of anything!" Cole called. Cole continued down the sand dune, and he finally decided to just slide down the dune to make things faster.

When Cole made it down, he made a clean halt and rolled and stood up straight. Cole ran behind a truck to stay hidden. He peeked around the corner to find two random Skullkin warriors talking to each other. Cole listened to them, and they sounded like the famous Cheech and Chong.

"Didn't know it was possible to have more bone headed version of them," Cole said to himself. Cole stopped listening to the conversation and continued towards the caverns. He stayed behind the truck, and ran when there was no more cover for him. Luckily, Cole wasn't spotted, and he approached the entrance of a far off cavern.

"Dark, it's always gotta be dark," Cole groaned. Cole looked back out towards where the Skullkin were and noticed a near by lonely Skullkin just standing by himself. But this Skullkin had a lit torch clutched in his claws. Cole smirked and snuck up behind the skeleton. The skeleton felt suspicious and looked behind him.

"Huh?" the Skullkin grunted when he found Cole right behind him, and Cole had his scythe out and behind his back.

"Let's play Guess Who," Cole said grimly, and with that he took his scythe and struck the skeleton in his midsection since he wasn't wearing any chest armor. The skeleton broke in half, and Cole managed to quickly grab the torch from the Skullkin before it was smothered by the sand.

"Thanks, let's play again some other time," said Cole, and he left the skeleton lying there, and made his way into the dark cave with light from the lit torch.

As Cole made his way down the cavern's halls, giant spiky rocks were on the side of the cave walls, but only on one side for some reason. As Cole got deeper, the spikes got larger, but the halls also grew bigger and more roomy. Cole looked ahead and noticed a slight golden glow coming from the distance ahead.

"That must be it," Cole said and began to jog. But as Cole left, he didn't notice the spiky walls begin to move, and they moved in his direction. After the spikes kept on moving, the walls on which they sat on just pulled itself right out of the ground, and deep growling was heard afterward. Cole stopped when he felt shaking within the caves and heard the deep growling echo.

"Oh right, the guard—hit me with your best shot," Cole said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes and turned as he grabbed out his scythe with his free hand. Only when Cole turned around, he was met with to green eyes with no irises, and the eyes belonged to a towering creature. And the worst part was the creature was a dragon.

This dragon was covered in dark brown scales, and it had no wings, it was an earth bound dragon, and on the dragon's back were huge spike all the way fro its neck and down to its long spiky tail, and the spikes looked like the ones that were on the cave walls that were once there, the dragon also had and pointed snout that ended like a large beak that was made out of giant sharp rocks, and this dragon walked on four legs, four, very large and powerful legs.

Cole was now face to face with his worst fear: a dragon. Cole stood agape at the beast, and slowly leaned down with the scythe and torch, but the torch was set down on a rock that wasn't covered in sand so the torch remained lit. After Cole put his things down, he slowly raised his hands in defense and shivered and whimpered in fear. The dragon took a few steps forward and the ground shook with each step and it let out a loud shriek as it bared is teeth, and Cole stepped back.

The noise from the cavern Cole was in caught the attention of the few Skullkin waiting outside.

"Get Samukai," a Skullkin demanded another random Skullkin, and he nodded and ran off.

Meanwhile, back with Cole and the giant, spiked, earth dragon, Cole accidently tripped and fell on his back. But by the time Cole tripped, the Scythe of Quakes was visible.

The scythe was covered in a beautiful coat of solid gold. The scythe had dragon like designs on it, making it look intimidating. The scythe was so long, it looked to be a tad taller than Cole. As the scythe just floated a few inches above the ground vertically, a glow illuminated from the scythe, and the glow got brighter once Cole got closer.

The dragon noticed the glow and looked at the glowing scythe, and then back down at Cole. The dragon stopped growling and it stopped showing its razor sharp teeth at Cole. But this moment of relief was not to last long.

"This way, the Scythe is down here!" Samukai's scratchy voice was heard from down the cavern.

The dragon looked down the direction of the cavern that lead out, and shadows were seen approaching. The dragon quickly looked back at Cole.

"I hope you and I aren't thinking of the same crazy idea," Cole whimpered. But the dragon grunted in reply, and almost looked as if it nodded.

Meanwhile, back outside with Wu and the others, they still waited atop the dune. They stared worriedly at the caverns as they heard muffled roars from inside the caves.

"Do you suppose Cole is fairing well in there?" asked Zane.

As if on cue, the Skullkin and Samukai came running and screaming in fear out of the cave entrance, and cracks began to form on the rocks walls of the cave Cole went down.

"I think he's doing just fine," Wu replied.

But in the blink of an eye, the cracks soon became gaps and broke, and they broke because the earth dragon burst from the depths of the caves and roared loudly as it reared up with its giant front paws slashing at the air.

The Skullkin were retreating to their vehicles, and most made it, and Samukai definitely got away as he and the others got into their trucks and drove off. But unlucky for one little Skullkin warrior who couldn't get away was left behind.

"Wait, you forgot me!" he called after the truck that sped off into the desert with sand flaring up behind it. The dragon stood on all fours again, but when its paws came crashing down one of its mighty paws landed right on the Skullkin, resulting in the skeleton's bones crushing.

The others looked and were very surprised to see Cole, who originally, was afraid of dragons was now riding on the dragon.

Cole stood with pride atop the beast as he held onto one of the large rock spikes on the dragon's back with one hand, and in the other he held the Golden Scythe of Quakes.

The rest of the ninja, Kate and Wu slid down the dune and met up with Cole and his dragon.

"I know what you're thinking and I only have one thing to say: dragons are so much better than horses!" Cole exclaimed with a big smile, but then his smile went away and he glared down at Wu, "by the way, why didn't you tell me the guards of the weapons are dragons?" Cole asked angrily.

"Would you have gone after your main objective after realizing what protects it is your worst fear?" Wu asked with a quirked eye brow.

"Fair enough—now everyone climb on, we still have to find the other three weapons," said Cole.

"Wait, you want us to ride that?" Kai asked angrily.

"Yes, Rocky would be happy to give us all a ride—and do you want your sister back or not?" asked Cole, as Rocky, his new earth dragon buddy, laid down low enough to make it easy for everyone to climb onto him.

"Fine," Kai groaned, "but 'Rocky'?" Kai continued as he began to climb up Rocky with the others.

"Hey, if he's on our side, might as well give him a name," Cole replied.

"How did you manage get him on our side?" asked Zane.

"I guess he saw that I wasn't a threat to the scythe—plus I would think it gets lonely in a deep cavern," Cole replied.

After everyone was aboard, which wasn't easy for everyone considering Rocky's back was covered with spikes, Rocky stood back up.

"Wait, this thing doesn't have wings," Jay pointed out.

Cole scoffed. "Who needs wings? I reckon Rocky's got plenty of speed and horse power to make up for being flightless," Cole said with a smirk.

"Yes, so I suggest we all hold tight," Wu said as he and the others gripped onto whatever spike they were holding onto.

"Yah!" Cole exclaimed, and Rocky roared in reply. Rocky began to run, and then he began to sprint across the desert terrain, heading in the direction the Skullkin retreated.

"I told you we'd find more transportation!" Kate yelled over the wind blowing in their faces.

* * *

The ninja, Wu and Kate, along with Rocky, entered a frozen, tundra terrain as the sun began to inch over the horizon. Rocky was now walking and not running as it followed the Skullkins' vehicles' tracks in the snow. They huddled against Rocky's back for warmth as the arctic winds blew, but Zane didn't seem cold at all.

"I do not see what is so bad about this cold," said Zane.

"Y-yeah, c-c-coming from F-frosty, here," Kai said while shivering.

Rocky began to use his claws more as he walked onto ice covered grounds.

"Careful Rocky, don't slip up on us, no pun intended," Cole reassured Rocky, and Rocky only snorted. As Rocky took more careful steps, tiny cracks began to form beneath his feet. No one noticed the cracks, not until they felt the icy ground they were on suddenly shift down a few inches.

Rocky stopped and balanced himself.

"Its ok, let's just keep going—the Shurikans of Ice should be located just up ahead," said Wu.

Rocky was about to take another step forward, when the ground gave out below him, and a gaping ice trench was made. Rocky was quick to act though, so he made a brave move and jumped from the collapsing ice he stood on and jumped to the other side. But when Rocky reached the other side, he didn't reach the ledge, instead he managed to drive his front claws onto the ninety degree angled smooth ice wall, and created giant scratch marks in the ice wall. Rocky began to slip, and the group held onto Rocky for dear life. But Rocky managed to get his back claws into the ice to, and slowly began to climb back up with success.

Cole held onto Rocky, but the Scythe of Quakes accidently slipped from its place on Cole's back, and was falling. But Cole was able to keep one hand clutched onto Rocky, and used his other hand to just barely catch the scythe and stop in from falling into the icy gorge. Cole grunted while trying to keep himself from letting go of his dragon. Rocky roared into the arctic winds, getting the attention of Samukai and his army as they waited outside an ice and snow covered mountain that had an entrance that looked like a temple entrance.

"Samukai, shouldn't we go and get the weapon before they get here?" a Skullkin asked.

"No!" Samukai immediately said, "let them come first—so that we won't have to deal with the beast guarding the weapon," Samukai explained softly.

"Yes sir," the Skullkin replied.

Meanwhile, back with Rocky and the ninja, Kate and Wu, Rocky was finally able to safely get to the top of the ledge and used his powerful legs to pull him and the people riding his back onto safer grounds. Rocky stood straight up but was panting a bit with his mouth agape.

"You did good Rocky, but take it a bit easy for now," Cole told Rocky. Rocky only softly shrieked in reply.

"There it is, inside that mountain are the Shurikans of Ice," Wu said as he pointed to a mountain in the distance.

"Zane, would you do the honors and go in there to retrieve the shurikans?" asked Wu.

"If it will help protect Ninjago, I would be more than happy," Zane replied. Zane hopped off Rocky as Rocky laid down to rest, and began his journey towards the mountain.

"Don't forget to look out for the Skullkin and the beast that guards the weapon!" Wu called to Zane.

Zane didn't reply, he only continued to the mountain, and to find no Skullkin or any of their vehicles around.

"It is suspicious that there is no trace of the Skullkin, but if this will be anything like what Cole had to go through, this still won't be easy," Zane said to himself as he continued to walk, and put his white ninja mask up and over his head, covering his face.

After Zane made it up to the entrance of the mountain and walked into it, it wasn't as dark as the caverns. Zane went deeper into the icy temple that lead to the shurikans. As Zane kept going, he noticed a golden glow, like Cole saw in the caverns, in the distance of the temple. Zane took off his mask and smiled as he moved a little faster towards the golden light. But Zane didn't notice the few Skullkin warriors and Samukai peeking our from behind an icy wall.

Zane walked up to the glow, and floating in midair at the other end of the room were two golden colored shurikans.

The shurikans were a tad bigger than a normal throwing star, and three large solid gold spikes reached out from the shurikans, and the spikes, being four inches long and nicely curved, made the golden throwing stars also look intimidating.

Zane slowly approached the Shurikans of Ice before him in awe, and as Zane got closer, they grew brighter. Zane finally reached them and grabbed them from midair.

"Such beauty," Zane sighed with a smile. But when Zane noticed the light hitting the walls in front of him, he saw something frozen in the ice.

Inside the giant ice wall was a giant winged dragon figure. But because of the glow, the creature was actually alive and snapped its glowing blue dragons eyes open and glared at Zane as the icy tomb the beast was in began to crack and the room began to shake.

But suddenly Samukai and his Skullkin ran in and Samukai glared at Zane, but the other Skullkin gaped at the cracking ice wall and the winged dragon creature inside the ice. The blue eyes of the dragon quickly flashed from Samukai and his Skullkin to Zane and the shurikans.

Meanwhile, back outside with the others and Rocky, Cole remained seated on Rocky's back while the others sat against Rocky's body to get his body heat, and Rocky had his head laid down and was resting with his eyes shut.

Suddenly Rocky's green eyes shot open and he jerked his head up, as well as his body, as when he stood up on all fours, everyone who was leaning against him almost fell back into the snow and ice.

Rocky began to growl and bare his teeth as he also got into fighting stance.

"Whoa! Rocky, calm down! What's wrong with you?" Cole asked as he had to keep himself from falling off Rocky's back. Rocky only roared very loudly in reply, loud enough for his roar to echo off the mountains in the distance where Zane was.

As if on cue, the icy mountain ahead burst into pieces as Samukai and his army once again fled to their trucks, and flying out of the top was the winged dragon that was frozen in the ice.

Unlike Cole's dragon, this dragon had wings, and he was covered entirely in white scales. The dragon only had two legs to walk on, and his muzzle was long and a little more bulky, and of course he had razor sharp teeth that shimmered like ice. And speaking of ice, since it was most likely this dragon was an ice dragon, icicles hung off the edges of the dragon's wings, tail and even legs, and each wing had a giant claw thumb on its wings that was made entirely out of solid ice. The dragon had a fairly long tail like Rocky, and had nicely curved claws among its feet, and a few spikes, obviously made of ice, grew from the dragon's head.

Gripping the ice horns on the dragon's head while also riding the ice beast was Zane. Zane stood atop the dragon with the golden shurikans of ice clutched in his free hand.

"Look, Frosty did it!" Kai exclaimed with a smile.

Jay chuckled. "Hey, I got to start using that name more often for him," Jay laughed.

Rocky roared at the sight of the new dragon Zane was riding, and Zane's dragon roared back, but in a higher pitch than Rocky. Zane's dragon's attention soon shifted over to the cowering Skullkin, and shot what seemed to be an ice missile from its mouth, and it flew through the air with great speed and a high pitched squealing sound.

The ice missile soon hit the ground, but it also hit the same spot where a small group of running Skullkin were, so the ice hit them. When the ice hit the Skullkin, it exploded, but it did more than just explode; it also became an ice imprisonment that caught the Skullkin by their legs, and they struggled to get free but to no avail.

But in the blink of an eye, unlucky for the trapped skeletons, several giant ice splinters shot up from the ice and sliced through the Skullkin, and obviously they didn't survive.

But, most of the Skullkin, including Samukai, got away. Zane's dragon then growled and descended to the others and Rocky. Rocky and the ice beast called to each other in a softer tone, as if they were talking to each other.

Once the dragon landed, Zane hopped off and walked up to his friends.

"Nice work, Zane," said Kate.

"Not only did you gain a new ally—but you also gained the golden weapon," Wu said referring to the golden shurikans Zane was holding.

Zane looked at his weapon and smiled at them. "I have Shard to thank for helping me," Zane said in his velvety voice.

"Shard huh, you gave it a name?" asked Jay. As if on cue, Zane's dragon, now known as Shard, brought its muzzle down to Zane's shoulder and nuzzled Zane.

"I suppose I have," Zane replied.

* * *

Back in the dark chambers of the Under World where Garmadon's shadow dwelled, Samukai and his other Skullkin have returned from being chased off by the ninja again but with worried looks of their skull faces, especially Samukai. Garmadon was towering over the scared Samukai in a corner.

"I hope you brought good news, or else you'll end up like that petty girl," Garmadon spat.

"Um, Lord Garmadon, w-we, uh—we couldn't get the first two weapons," Samukai said shakily.

"What?" Garmadon asked, but surprisingly without any shock or anger in his voice.

Samukai got the guts to look up at the lord before him.

"Well, we tried to go after the Scythe and the Shurikans, but they earned the guardians' of the weapons' trust, and they used the alliance to over power us—and they now have two of the four weapons. I am sorry my Lord," Samukai explained.

Garmadon remained quite for a moment. "Hmm, lucky for you Samukai, you know me enough to establish that I love the torture and pain of others as much as the next guy, but I am in a good mood right now—I'll let you off with a warning right now, but if you can't get me the weapons, one way or another—you'll be the one to pay dearly," Garmadon said darkly.

And just to make his point, Garmadon stepped aside from his corner, which was the same corner Nya was put in. Though Nya was still chained by her wrists and ankles, she wasn't wake, she was actually collapsed on the ground, but her chest was still moving up and down, meaning she was still alive and breathing.

As Samukai saw Nya, he gasped once he caught sight of Nya's arm. On Nya's bicep of her arm were two deep slashes that had dry and new blood leaking from it, and the two slashes crossed to the point where they made an intimidating x mark on Nya's flesh.


	4. Chapter 4 - Fire and lightning

Chapter 4 – Fire and Lightning

It was now dark but not only because it was the hour of night but also because of huge clouds that looked to be storm clouds, and they hung low over a new horizon. This land was a bit flat, but it felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. And in this desolate place was a tall metal tower that was in ruin, but still standing.

The tower looked that to be of a power poll, used to hold electricity and let surge pass trough it to go through other power lines. Though there were a few old and broken power lines hanging from the tower, there were no other towers around. Atop the tower in ruin was a light blue colored light engulfing an unknown object, and the lightning strikes above seemed to be attracted to it as it hit the blue light.

The dark cumulonimbus clouds above would have big or small flashes of lightening every few minutes, or sometimes seconds.

Shard the ice dragon and Rocky the earth dragon were traveling towards the lonesome tower as Shard flew closely above Rocky and Rocky trotted, but still with great speed, on land. Riding Rocky was Cole, Jay and Kai, while Zane, Wu and Kate rode atop Shard. Shard was full of experience with flying so he practically soared, and because of his balance in the air, everyone on Shard sat with ease, and Wu took the advantage and crossed his legs.

As they approached the tower they gazed upon the blue light. Cole slowed Rocky to a halt and Zane made Shard descend. Shard and Rocky lowered themselves to let their rider dismount. Jay looked up at the light and also the lightning that came close to hitting it multiple times. Jay looked worried, but Wu came up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Do not fret Jay, Cole and Zane have already gone through dangerous obstacles, and they made it through, and so will you—besides, if you want to meet Kai's sister, Nya, I'm sure having golden weapons and a dragon on your side might make you look enticing in front of her," said Wu, and finished with a chuckle. That got Jay's attention as his eye brows barely shot up.

"Let's do this," Jay said as he clenched a fist. Jay began to make his way to the tower, but what he, or anyone for that matter, didn't notice was a shadow that was flying in the dark clouds.

The shadow was in the shape of a long Chinese dragon, but it also had wings and two legs, but the details were still not visible due to the clouds.

After a bit of climbing, Jay was able to get over half way to the top of the tower. But then Zane looked around with confusion as he sat atop Shard.

"Has any one else noticed that there isn't any activity of the Skullkin here?" asked Zane.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, it's a little weird since there are no butts to kick here," said Cole.

Suddenly, there was a distant high pitched shriek up in the clouds. Kate was the only one to bother to take notice in the sound as her sparkling violet eyes shot around in confusion.

"Uh guys, was that your dragons?" asked Kate.

"What was the dragons?" asked Kai. But Kate didn't reply, she only stared up at the cloud filled sky. Suddenly a flash of lightning came again, but this time it flashed over the silhouette of the dragon shaped shadow.

"Uh-oh," was all Kate could say.

As if on cue, loud and long high pitched noises were heard as they sounded like it was getting closer to the tower.

"What the heck is that?!" Cole exclaimed over the shrieks.

"It's the guardian protecting the Nun chucks of Lightning!" Wu replied.

Jay wasn't bothered by anything as he made it to the top, and the blue light that once engulfed the unknown object faded away as a golden light now engulfed the object that was actually the Nun chucks of Lightning.

The nun chucks, like the other golden weapons, were coated in gold, had dragon like designs, and glowed brightly in the presence of its wielder. Unlike ordinary nun chucks, the golden nun chucks had strands of ever lasting and unlimited lightning connecting the handles.

Jay was just about to reach for the golden nun chucks, but suddenly the shrieking came to an end as a blue and white ball of electricity came from the skies and was heading straight for Jay. Jay finally noticed the danger around him when he saw the ball heading for him, so he shifted from on side of the tower to the other, just dodging the ball of lightning, resulting in the ball exploding and sparks falling.

Suddenly, it looked like something hit the tower as there was a giant BANG noise to go with it and the weakened tower cranked.

"What's happening?!" Jay exclaimed with much fear.

"Jay, be careful, the guardian I placed for the weapon is able to make itself unseen!" Wu called to Jay, but it was too late.

Like Wu said, the shadow dragon in the clouds from before was the thing that hit the tower, but it now became visible with hissing noises.

The dragon's long Chinese dragon like shaped body was covered in dark and light blue scales, and it had two rather small and nimble legs, but it had its wings to make up for poor legs, this dragon's wings were different from Shard's scaly wings, this dragon's wings were actually made of long blue, light blue and even yellow feathers; the dragon had a fairly long enough snout, and atop its head was dark blue fur and two long, back curved horns. The lightning beast had its elongated body coiled around the tower and it glared and growled at Jay, obviously thinking he was a threat to what it is supposed to guard.

But suddenly the tower began to creak again as one of its sides gave out and it was about to collapse.

"Jay, get down from there, that tower's gonna give out any second!" Cole called to Jay.

"You think I don't know that?!" Jay snapped as he struggled to hold on to the metal of the tower to keep himself from falling, because falling from that height might kill if unlucky enough. Jay then got the nerve to look into the dragon's piercing yellow eyes, and it looked back down into his blue eyes. And that's when the dragon finally noticed the golden glow emitting from the nun chucks.

As the dragon finally took this in, he huffed as the tower gave out again and was just on the verge of falling. So the beast gave in and grabbed the golden nun chucks within its massive jaws, which were also filled with teeth, and plucked Jay up in one of its claws and flew off the tower just before it collapsed with a bunch of loud clanks and crashes.

The dragon descended, earning a few growls and soft shrieks from Shard and Rocky, but the lightning dragon only huffed in response as it let go of Jay, and Jay managed to stand and turn himself to face the dragon. The dragon also lowered its head so Jay could grab the nun chucks dangling from the dragon's jaws, and Jay soon grabbed them, but not too quickly.

"Thanks," Jay said softly with a smile as he stared at the golden weapon in his hands, and then he stared up at the dragon again. The dragon the lowered itself and placed its neck and head on the ground close to Jay, wanting Jay to mount him. Jay soon did so as he climbed on and grabbed the curved horns on the dragons head. Soon after, the dragon rose to its feet again.

"Wow, now I know how Eragon felt—speaking of which, you need a name, and I'm thinking Wisp, how 'bout you?" Jay asked his new dragon, and the dragon made a long shriek again and spread its feathered wings.

"I'll take that as a yes-sir-'re," Jay said with a smile.

"Wait, don't we still have one more place to go, Wu?" asked Kate.

"Yes, we have, last but not least, the Sword of Fire, Kai's weapon, and it's located in the more warmer regions—but we shall stop on the way there to get some rest," Wu explained.

* * *

Hours passed, but there was barely a crack of dawn in the sky. The ninja and their dragons have now arrived into a forest, but in the distance a large mountain was visible, and an orange and red glow emitted from it.

The ninja circled around small camp fire as their dragons relaxed with each other a few yards away. Things were quiet as no one spoke while huddled by the fire.

"You know what I just realized—none of us have learned Spinjitzu yet," Kai said, breaking the silence.

"Well, you are all going to need to learn it soon—I fear that there is another battle to come to us soon," Wu sighed.

"Well, let's just get some sleep for now—we can all talk and make more plans when it's light out," Kate said as she leaned back so she could go to sleep.

Everyone did the same as they all either said goodnight or yawned. Kai was reluctant to lay down for rest.

"I hope you're ok, Nya," Kai said to himself, and closed his eyes.

* * *

Darkness. That's all there was, except the faint sound of a feminine voice.

"Kai," it said as it echoed too.

Kai slowly blinked at the echoing voice. And the first thing he saw was a quick glimpse of the black falcon as it perched on the ground a few feet away from him, but it soon opened its wings and flew off.

Kai heard the female voice calling his name again, so he sat up, eyes wide and searching the woods around him. Kai then looked at his friends who were asleep around the fire that was now out as smoke strands rose from it.

"Kai—I need your help," the female voice said to Kai again, and that's when realization hit Kai. The voice calling Kai was Nya's voice.

"Nya?" Kai asked as he slowly got up and stared at the mountain with the orange glow in the distance. He saw the sudden brightening in the light of the mountain.

"If that's where she is, I'll take my chances," Kai said to himself, and began to run toward the mountain.

Once Kai made his way to the mountain, he realized it was actually a sleeping volcano. And he also realized there was a temple entrance in the volcano, but to get to the volcano, Kai had to cross an old bridge in ruin over a mote around the mountain.

When Kai made it across, he stopped and stared at the volcano.

"Kai," Kai heard the voice that sounded like Nya, but it was coming from inside the volcano. Kai heard the voice and he was eager to enter the volcano. Kai ran in at first, but then his running slowed to walking, and he scanned the rock walls of the volcano, and then he noticed the slight golden glow ahead in the mouths of the volcano.

Kai continued until he walked into a large chamber filled with slow flowing lava, and at the back of the room, the lava seemed to flow into a lava fall that fell far down into the earth. In the middle of the room was a golden light glowing, and it was engulfing an object.

The object the light engulfed was none other than the Sword of Fire. The sword wasn't so different from the other golden weapons, except the fact that it was a sword, the sword was also coated in solid and glowing gold, and the handle and blade of the weapon also had dragon like designs, but being the golden weapon of fire, there were also flame designs on it too.

The sword only glowed brighter as Kai stared in awe at the sword. But that staring was not to last, because suddenly Nya appeared, unscathed and unharmed, and she was staring at Kai, and Kai could only stare confused at her wondering where she came from.

"Nya—Nya is that you, are you alright?" Kai asked quickly.

"Yes—I'm just fine 'brother'," Nya replied in her sweet voice at first, but this wasn't Nya; Nya's sweet feminine voice soon became a dark and growling male voice, and her body changed too, because it slowly changed, like her voice, into the towering shadow of Lord Garmadon who lived in the Under World, but was now standing in front of Kai on the surface of the earth.

"W-who are you?" Kai asked angrily.

"Not only am I your worst nightmare, but I am also your future lord of Ninjago," Garmadon growled, "oh, and I met your sister," Garmadon added.

Kai gasped. "Nya?" Kai said with worry.

"Oh, so that's her name, huh—such a petty brat she is, don't know how you deal with her being your sister," said Garmadon.

"What did you do to her—I've heard rumors that you hurt her," Kai said angrily as he clinched a fist.

"Well, you've heard correctly—she may be alive, but I made her wish she wasn't," Garmadon hissed.

"Why are you even here?!" Kai exclaimed.

"I thought I'd just give you some 'inspiration' on wanting to retrieve this once and for all," Garmadon said as he side stepped so Kai could see the sword of Fire again, "and besides—did you really think that I wasn't going to trick you?" Garmadon asked darkly.

"What?" asked Kai with worry.

"You saw what happened when the others went after their golden weapons: a guard came and tried to kill them—this is just a diversion until the almighty fire breather comes," said Garmadon, and as if on cue, bubbles began to appear in the lava as they boiled fiercely. "Ah, right on cue, see you on the other side," Garmadon hissed and he began to disappear, but he came into an evil laugh that echoed.

Suddenly a rumble occurred in the volcano, but that didn't mean it was erupting, it means the guardian of the Sword of Fire was awakening.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the campsite with the rest of the group, they were still asleep, but someone began to stir. Kate yawned as she opened her eyes hearing distant rumbling, so she sat up. Once Kate sat up, she first spotted the volcano in the distance with dark clouds hanging over it, and she heard the noise emitting from the glowing mountain. Kate then looked around to find everyone, except Kai, still there. Kate got up and made her way to Wu, who wasn't asleep but was sitting cross legged and was most likely meditating.

"Wu," Kate tried to get Wu's attention, and he soon opened his blue eyes and looked at her. "Wu, I can't feel the presence of Kai around, I think he's gone," Kate whispered worriedly. Wu hummed and the first thing he did was turn his head toward the distant volcano.

"I bet I know where he went. I'm going after Kai, if it's become too long and I haven't returned, ready the boys and their dragons and tell them to immediately head for that volcano," Wu explained firmly.

"Ok," said Kate, as Wu stood up and grabbed his staff and began his way to where Kai went.

"And tell them to also keep a keen eye out for the golden weapons," Wu reminded Kate.

"Got it," Kate called.

"Kate," Kate heard Zane's soft voice and she turned in the direction of his voice behind her, "why have you awakened, is something amiss?" asked Zane.

"I fear that Kai has gotten himself into trouble, and now Wu must go after him to save him," Kate was reluctant to say, "are the other golden weapons still secure?" asked Kate.

"Yes, they are fine. Why?" Zane asked as he stood up.

"Wu told me to tell you guys to be on the ready with the weapons just in case, and the dragons must be prepared too," Kate replied.

"Ugh, for what?" Jay yawned as he and Cole just woke up.

"I don't know," Kate sighed.

* * *

In the shaking volcano, well, Kai wasn't faring with the shaking going on. Kai tried to run and jump over a gap of lava to reach the stone platform the sword was on, and he made it over the gap, luckily. But the joy of just being able to grab the golden sword was not to last long, suddenly two massive and bulky claws came from the lava on the other side of the stone, and bright yellow and orange molten rock was attached to and leaked off of the claws and they both slammed down onto the stone; Kai on one side of the sword, and the claws on the other.

Soon, more globs of lava arose from the lava pools, but the cause of the rising molten rock was actually the beast guarding the Sword of Fire. After most of the lava spilled off the dragon, his body became visible.

The dragon was covered in yellow and red scales, and he had glowing yellow eyes, he walked on four legs, like Rocky, but this dragon also had wings, big giant wings that looked like they were made of feathers, but they were actually made of giant yellow glowing flames that were in the shapes of feathers, and there were giant hook claws on the wings too, this dragon also had a fairly long tail that ended in spikes, the dragon had multiple spikes coming from its head, and what was unique about this dragon was that there were literally gaps in the dragons body that would actually let you look onside the dragon, but there was a bright orange and yellow glow that made it very uneasy to see inside the gaps.

The dragon roared loudly and deeply and soon let out rays of fire burst from its short and bulky snout. The dragon didn't aim the flames at Kai, but it was still angry. Kai would look at the dragon, and then at he sword multiple times, until he heard his name.

"Kai!" Kai heard Wu's voice from the volcano's entrance and turned to find his sensei standing there, "hurry, grab the sword and get out of here!" Wu demanded.

"But what about the dragon?!" Kai called.

"We have enough allies already, now let's go!" Wu snapped.

Suddenly that's when Garmadon's giant shadow came back from the Under World and he scowled at the scene before him.

"What, how are you not dead yet?!" Garmadon exclaimed with rage.

"Garmadon," Wu said shakily as he stared at his shadowy brother, but Garmadon heard him.

"Oh, hello little brother—I see you've aged a lot," Garmadon said calmly, "and I've heard that none of your students have learned Spinjitzu either," Garmadon continued.

"Garmadon, what have you done? The family you started has fallen apart because of you!" Wu said, while on the brink of tears.

"Don't mention them to my face!" Garmadon snapped, and his voice echoed so loud the walls began to shake and crack.

The fire dragon in the chamber got spooked and flapped its giant wings and pounded its muscular legs on the stone on which the sword was on. The impact of the dragon's claws caused the stone to crack and break off and float away, taking the sword with it, and the chunk of rock the golden sword was on was drifting straight for the lava falls at the other side of the chamber.

"Yes, the sword is heading right for the Under World—I'll see you all on the other side," Garmadon said evilly as he and the sword both went over the lava falls and disappeared down into the earth.

The fire dragon roared after failing to protect the sword. But Kai waved his arms while trying to calm the dragon.

"Whoa, stop, it's ok!" Kai yelled as he put his hands on one of the dragon's claws, getting the dragon to calm a bit and look at Kai and huff, "we know it's not good that the sword is gone, but we'll get it back," Kai reassured the dragon. The dragon growled a bit as it inhaled and exhaled, but then it closed its yellow eyes as it gave in and put its head down by Kai, signaling Kai that he had its trust.

Kai smiled as he went up to the beast's head and petted it.

"This is not good," Wu sighed.

Suddenly more roaring was heard in the distance outside the mountain, meaning the others had arrived with their dragons. But Kai's new dragon didn't react like the other dragons with the feeling of other dragons being around, it simply just opened its eyes and shook its head a bit.

When the dragons arrived at the entrance, they hopped off them and headed into the cave.

"Oh cool, now Kai has a dragon buddy too, what are you gonna call him?" Jay asked enthusiastically.

"Well, I'm starting to like the name Flame," Kai said with a smirk.

"What happened here? And Kai, why did you run off?" Kate asked Kai.

"I was tricked. Garmadon fooled me so I would distract the dragon and he could get the sword, even if it didn't go quite like that, any other way, he got the sword," Kai explained sadly.

"Well, where is he and the sword now?" asked Cole.

"I think he's going to the Under World," Kai replied.

"Aw, dang it, and that's where no mortals like us can cross over to," Jay whined.

Kai's eye brows shot up all the sudden. "We may not be able to 'cross' over to the Under World, but we can still 'go' there," said Kai, but everyone stared at him confused.

"Uh, could you make that more blunt?" asked Jay.

"I mean, don't you ever remember hearing the fairy tales of how dragons were mystical creatures who originated from the spirit world and could cross over to our world and back?" asked Kai. Kai then walked over to his fire dragon, Flame, and hopped on the back of Flame's neck, and Flame soon stood up again as Kai held onto the horns on the back of Flame's head.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Kate.

"Yeah, none of this is ringing a bell, and I don't listen to fairy tales," said Cole.

"It means we could ride our dragons as they cross over to the Under World," Kai replied.

"And, you are sure that is safe?" asked Zane. Kai pondered this for a moment,

"Pretty sure," Kai replied with a shrug.

"Alright Kai, I trust you and your idea, you four take the dragons and retrieve the sword from Garmadon," Wu said firmly.

"And my sister," Kai added.

"Who I am willing to meet," Jay chimed.

"Ahem," Kate cleared her throat to get back to the point, "Wu and I will stay behind—I hope all of you return safely," Kate said as she walked over to Wu.

"Take the other golden weapons with you, and keep a close eye on them," Wu demanded.

"Yes sensei," all four ninja said at once.


	5. Chapter 5 - Laying low is over rated

Chapter 5 – Laying low is over rated

Now the sun was creeping over the desert horizon. Zane, Kai, and Jay all flew on their respective dragons, Flame, Shard, and Wisp, while Cole rode on his wingless dragon across the earth, Rocky.

"How far do we have to go, and where are we going?" Jay exclaimed loud enough for everyone to hear.

"The dragons know what they're doing, they'll get us to the Under World soon!" Kai yelled back.

As if on cue Cole's dragon, Rocky, roared loudly, and the other dragons above roared with it.

"I guess that means we are close!" yelled Zane. Suddenly Rocky went from running to sprinting at blinding speed, and the three flying dragons flew faster, just like Rocky, and they even began to dive and loose altitude.

"Ahh!" all Jay did was shriek and freak out like a child, the other three held onto their dragon's as best they could.

Suddenly, the dawning sky above began to glitch into a color of pitch black, and things went dark, but the sky would keep coming back again.

"What's going on with the sky?!" Cole exclaimed.

"We're going down!" Kai replied.

"What, you mean we're gonna die?!" Jay said while panicking.

"No, I literally mean down; to the Under World!" Kai yelled back.

As if on cue, the sky went pitch black, and the dawning sky didn't glitch back. And soon, just like the sky, the ground disappeared as well. After the ground disappeared, all was dead silent; there was nothing but a black void.

But in the distance ahead was something very small, almost too small for the naked eye to see. The object was the tiniest orb that looked like a spot of light.

After a few seconds, the orb became bigger in the blink of an eye, and the nothingness went away. After the orb got bigger, the ninja and their dragon's fell through it and appeared in a different world; the Under World.

The one and only world deep under the surface, with rock chambers, lava pools, and with practically a hellish look appeared.

Due to the speed, once the dragons were in the Under World, the ninja were thrown off their dragons.

"Ok, Wisp—Ow!" Jay said as he stood up rubbing his head and glaring at his lightning dragon. Wisp only huffed in response.

"Guys, look," Cole said, getting the other boys' attention.

They all looked ahead of themselves realizing they were on a giant rock ledge that over look the Under World. Nothing really changed much, there were Skullkin here and there, lit torches on the walls, lava pools, all that great stuff. Suddenly there was the sound of rocks tumbling, tiny rocks.

"Ow, my head," a feminine voice complained quietly. Rocky was lying down for a rest when he looked behind himself, and ended looking at his backside. The boys looked at each other and walked over to Rocky, only to find a girl with a bow and quiver full of arrows fall off of rocky. The girl was none other than Kate.

"Kate, why are you here? You said you and Sensei Wu would wait for us back in Ninjago," said Zane.

"Uh, yeah, we lied," Kate confessed a little quickly.

"'We'?" asked Kai.

Just to answer Kai's question, Wu suddenly jumped off of Rocky too with his staff in hand.

"Seems I couldn't keep my word either," said Wu.

"Couldn't or wouldn't?" asked Cole while quirking an eye brow.

"I don't know," Kate cut in, "all I know is that I had my fingers crossed—ain't no way I'm passing up a chance to come here," Kate said with a smirk.

"Speaking of which, we need to find Nya and the sword," said Wu. Kai gasped.

"Oh man, y-you don't think Nya was actually injured do you?" Kai asked with fear.

"I hate to say it, and I'm not going to say 'I told you so' later, but my visions are never wrong, Kai," Kate sighed.

Suddenly Kate fell limp and her eyes went brighter, but Wu caught her and helped her back up. Kate's eyes were droopy again, and when she fully opened her eyes back up, her eyes faded until they stopped sparkling so brightly.

"Kate, what happened? Did you see something again?" asked Cole. Kate nodded her head meekly.

"Yeah—I saw the sword, it's still in one piece."

"Anything else?" asked Jay.

"It's on the other side of this chamber—where Garmadon is—he and Samukai are there looking for it now, but still haven't found it yet," Kate explained softly.

"Awesome, so if we move now, we could beat the baddies to the sword," said Jay.

"Wait, one more thing," Kai said, and looked at Kate, "was Nya there?" asked Kai.

"Yeah, yeah, is the hot chick there, come on tell me, I'm on the edge of my seat here," Jay said quickly.

"But Jay, you are not sitting," Zane said with confusion.

Jay scowled at Zane. "It's an idiom, you idiot," said Jay.

"Oh, don't none of you worry, she's there alright—not faring well, but there," Kate replied.

"Ninja!" a haggish voice came, and the ninja looked down from the rock ledge to find the Skullkin below looking at them.

"Oh fudge," Kate whimpered hysterically. Suddenly, a spear from the Skullkin came flying at them, but luckily they moved only for the spear to pierce the stone walls.

Cole got angry and grabbed out the Scythe of Quakes.

"Oh, no one gets away with nearly impaling me!" Cole shouted angrily. Cole was ready to fight now, and just to show this, he ran and jumped off the ledge and did many flips until he landed in front of the Skullkin.

But when Cole landed, he made a clean landing, feet first, and the earth below him became a big dent right on the spot with the loud sound of a BOOM. But that's not all that happened, the ground began to crack, and just like Shard's ice splinter did in the north, giant razor sharp rocks shot up and destroyed some of the Skullkin warriors.

Suddenly, Cole began to spin, and not like some child, he actually would spin in one spot at blinding speed until the point where he was engulfed in a mini brown and black tornado made of rock clumps here and there. The others gasped at this.

"Sensei, isn't that-?" Kai began, only to be cutoff by Wu.

"Spinjitzu, yes, it is—you three should also be on the brink of learning it," Wu said as he looked at Zane, Kai, and Jay.

"Oh, I bet I could do better than Cole," Jay said while smirking and grabbing out his Nun chucks of Lightning.

Jay began to twirl his nun chucks at great speeds, and they began to glow brightly. Suddenly, every time the nun chucks spun around, strands of electricity and lightning flew from the rock ledge and aimed at the Skullkin, hitting them and causing their skeletal bodies to instantly come apart.

"Nice," Kate complimented.

"Not as good as it's gonna be!" Jay exclaimed happily, and he began to spin like Cole, except he was engulfed in a light blue tornado with small strands of electricity.

"I sense that Spinjitzu is among me," said Zane. Zane pulled out his Shurikans of Ice, and he threw them above the chambers, when the shurikans were flying high above the Skullkin, ice shards were dropping from them and were falling right for the Skullkin.

"Ooh, sparkly," a Skullkin chimed in with too much enthusiasm for someone like him. But right after some ice landed on his claw hand, the ice then expanded all over his hand in an ice coating and began to go up his arm. "Oh," the same Skullkin said with realization.

Suddenly the Skullkin ran around in panic mode with the ice falling on them. Eventually the ice fell on them all and they were stopped in their tracks as the skeletons were caught in an ice imprisonment.

"Too cool," Kate chimed.

"As Jay said, 'not as cool as this'," said Zane, and with that, he did Spinjitzu too, and was engulfed in a white tornado with a few ice shards. Jay and Zane dropped from the rock ledge and down to where Cole was still spinning. The three spinning ninja were able to slow down to a stop. Zane made a clean stop, Cole wobbled a bit, and Jay wobbled to, but he had a sick look and clutched his stomach.

"Ugh, first times a charm," Jay said meekly, and put his hand over his mouth because he threw up a little in his mouth, but he managed to swallow his nearly tossed cookies back down.

Kate, Kai, and Wu hopped off the rock ledge. Kate grabbed out her bow, an arrow from her quiver on her back, and loaded her bow with an arrow head. Kate aimed for an entrance that lead to another chamber at the other end of the room.

"Kate, what are you doing, you're blind—no offense," said Jay.

"Well, you saw that deer, right?" Kate asked, not looking away from her target.

"Uh, yeah," Jay replied.

"Then shut up," Kate said back. With that, Kate shot the arrow, and when it disappeared in the blink of an eye, a horrible cry of pain was heard in the direction the arrow was shot.

"My guess is that you hit someone important," Cole said as he and the others ran to where the arrow went.

They came to the spot, but looked around and didn't see the arrow or anyone else, but they heard wheezing.

"Does any one else hear that?" asked Kai. Kai asked as he walked further and closer to a wall, only to notice the wheezing getting louder.

When Kai turned around to look where he was going, he suddenly saw Samukai with Kate's arrow driven straight through his chest plate armor and through him as well as it pinned Samukai onto the wall and his feet weren't touching the ground.

Everyone gasped when they noticed Samukai.

"Looks like I was right about the important part," Cole simply said.

"I may be going down, ACK...but Garmadon won't...you will all pay…" Samukai said between wheezes and his voice trailed off before he took one last breath, and he was gone.

Kate reluctantly walked up to the skeleton body and reached for the arrow before she yanked it out of Samukai's torso, and his body clattered to the ground.

"Shouldn't do this but," Kate said as she looked down at Samukai's dead body, "rest in peace Samukai," Kate sighed.

"Come on we got to move," said Kai. They all went through the entrance to the other chamber and they soon came into one that was smaller and with lava falls at the bottom and lava pits slowly flowing. Where the lava falls met the bottom was a stone large enough for them to walk on, and impaling the stone was the Sword of Fire.

"There it is, we're home free, woo-hoo!" Jay cheered as Kai made his way to the sword. As Kai stared at his golden weapon, it glowed, and that's when Kai smirked because he decided to finally do Spinjitzu, and he was engulfed in a tiny red and orange fire tornado. Kai spun his way to the sword, only for the whole place to suddenly rumble, causing Kai to loose his balance and his Spinjitzu stopped and he nearly fell over and into the lava but he caught himself.

"Oh no, you were so close," Garmadon's dark voice said, and soon his shadow form appeared again, but this time he looked different.

This time, Garmadon was about the same sized as they others, just a little taller, his skin was as black as night and his irises were glowing red, and he wore a metal Mongolian hat atop his head with a bone crest. He wore no shirt, leaving his torso exposed, but his torso took a skeletal expression as if his rib cage was visible, but he wore baggy black pants and a purple sash across his waist, and his teeth weren't normal, he had a razor sharp set of jaws.

"Garmadon, please, don't make anymore mistakes," Wu pleaded to his evil big brother.

"It's too late for that!" Garmadon snapped, and he ran over to the sword and grabbed it from its place, "besides—you still need to save Nya," Garmadon said darkly as he stepped aside for them to see, only for the ninja, especially Kai, to gasp when they see Nya's limp body hanging from her wrist with shackles, and blood was trickling down the arm that Garmadon injured earlier with the metal bar.

"What did you do to her?!" Kai exclaimed with tears threatening to spill.

"It's called leaving a mark," Garmadon replied. Kai couldn't take it, so he ran over to Nya, and no one, even Garmadon, stopped him. Kai was able to slip Nya's lithe hands from her wrist shackles and catch her from falling.

"Huh, Kai?" Nya said meekly as her eyes began to open.

"Shush, Nya, don't move, we're getting out of here," Kai said softly to Nya.

"Hmm, yes, I suppose you are—lucky for all of you, for what I am about to do, I only needed one of the golden weapons for—and there may be no battle today, but we will meet again soon," Garmadon spat, and with that he took the sword and flung it through the air while not letting go in an intimidating style, until he suddenly drove the sword into the ground again, and just like that, his entire body disappeared in he blink of an eye. Everyone was quiet while taking this in.

"Well, that was beyond trippy," said Jay. Nya was able to stand while she leant on Kai's shoulder, and they both walked slowly towards the Sword of Fire. Kai took his free hand and took the sword from the earth.

"Sensei, where did Garmadon go?" asked Zane.

"I don't know, and I'm afraid that will remain unknown for a while," Wu sighed.

"Oh, my gosh!" Kate exclaimed as she looked at Nya's arm. Everyone followed Kate's gaze and noticed the x shaped flesh wound on Nya's bicep.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you, Nya," Kai said as he hugged Nya and finally let a tear shed down his face, "even if there are more adventures to come—I'm laying low for a long time before I do anything else this dangerous again," Kai said after he stopped hugging Nya.

* * *

**72 hours later…**

The day time sky was clear over Sensei Wu's monastery on a large mountain in the middle of nowhere. But suddenly a giant red fire dragon came out of nowhere and was flying very fast next to another elongated blue lightning dragon, and they raced each other as they both flew around the monastery. The dragons were Flame and Wisp as their riders Kai and Jay, and they rode them with much excitement.

"Woo, yeah baby!" Jay exclaimed.

There were four very large stables specially made for the ninjas' dragons. The stable was located a bit father below the monastery and were inside the mountain. A separate flight of stairs lead from the monastery to the stables. Rocky and Shard were the two dragons to lay down and relax in their stables.

But back with the monastery building, Kate was in the middle of the training course with her bow and arrows out, and her bow was loaded. The sack dummies flew around her with paper bulls eyes tapped onto their torsos', and Kate shot a perfect bull's eye at each shot.

"Hey Kate," Cole said with a smile as he and Zane came out of the monastery, but because she was in the middle of training, Kate thought the boys were dummies and shot an arrow at them, but luckily they dodged the arrow head and the arrow impaled a window.

"Hey, watch it, kid!" Cole snapped angrily.

"Sorry—and I bet I did you a favor, you guys could probably use some practice on agility," Kate said as she left the training course and walked up to Zane and Cole.

"Oh, well, Cole and I thought you looked a little bored," said Zane.

"Naw, I never get bored firing arrows...but it can be pretty tiring."

"Well, when you're done, Cole was wondering if you'd like to play his favorite video game, Face to Fist 2, with him—and I was wondering if you'd simply help me take care of Nya—her wound is getting better, but Kai doesn't want to take any chances," Zane explained.

"Yeah, I can understand that—ok, how about this, Zane, I'll help you with whatever you need first, and when I'm done helping, I'll come play video games, ok Cole?" said Kate.

"Sure, I guess that'll work, I'll get started on playing, just come in and play when you can," Cole said as he began to walk back into the monastery, until he was stopped by Nya, who had fresh white bandages wrapped around her wound.

"Oh, hey Nya, felling any better?" asked Cole.

"Yeah, a little, who knew ice had so much healing properties?" Nya asked with a light small.

"Nya, did you need something, you shouldn't quite be up and about yet," Zane said softly.

"Yes, I'm aware of that, but I got up because I needed to tell you something, where's Kai and Jay?" asked Nya, and as if on cue, two loud roars were heard. The roaring came from Flame and Wisp as they flew so close to the monastery that Kai and Jay just jumped off, afterwards, the two dragons flew down and into their stables.

"Why I'm right here, were you thinking about me?" Jay asked Nya with a smirk, only to get a whack upside the head by Kai.

"Uh, no, not really, there's trouble in Jamanakai Village, shouldn't be too far from here, and-," Nya began, only to be cut off by Kai.

"What kind of trouble?" Kai cut in.

"I was getting to that—it's Garmadon, and I don't know how or when, but I think he's back," Nya said with worry.

"Awesome, now I get to kick butt again," Kai said with a smile.

"Wait, what happened to Mr. Lay Low?" asked Cole.

"On vacation—now let's go men," Kai replied as he and the other three boys went with him down to the dragon stables.

"What confuses me is how did you know there was trouble in that village?" Kate asked Nya after all was quiet.

"A friend tweeted," Nya said simply as she grabbed out an old fashion flip phone.

"Ah," Kate said as she nodded her head in realization. "Wait, you have a flip phone?" asked Kate.

"Give me a break, I worked at a black smith shop and I lived with my brother," said Nya.

"Fair point," Kate simply said.

Meanwhile, the ninja were all mounting their dragons, and the dragons were about to exit the stables. Zane's dragon was first to spread its giant ice wings and fly out at great speed, and then Kai and Jay. Cole and Rocky were last to leave, but even though Rocky didn't fly out, he jumped out of the stables and was actually able to cling to the steep mountain side and run very fast down the mountain and onto flat land, and the others flew low to stay close to Cole while he and Rocky traveled by land.


	6. Chapter 6 - The one and only Montgomery

Chapter 6 – The one and only Montgomery

The ninja and their dragons arrived at a small village that rests on a mountain side. Cole's dragon climbed up the mountain slope, but it wasn't that steep, and of course the others were flying, until they all landed on a lower rock ledge just below the village. As the ninja were dismounting their dragons, a few screams of terror were heard coming from the village.

"Seems like we weren't too late," said Jay.

"Come on," Cole said as he grabbed out his golden weapon, along with the others, and they all ran up to the village. They got to the small town and saw people running and screaming and fleeing into their homes. And that's when an evil laugh was heard from a near by alley, but this was a rather pathetic evil laugh. The evil laugh was actually a childish one, and it had a light husky tone. When the laughing got louder, a boy about Kate's age and height emitted from the alley.

The boy was dressed in a black hoody and baggy black pants with a purple sash, and wore black sneakers as well, the boys had his hood up, but a blond bowl cut was slightly visible beneath the hood, the hoody he wore had a small green number five in the corner of its chest, but painted over the torso of the hoody was the same skeletal design as Garmadon, and the oddest thing about the boy was his eyes, his irises were completely blood red, but had specks of green.

"I am Lloyd Garmadon, future heir to the dark throne—now give me your candy!" the boy or Lloyd Garmadon, called out to the village in a light husky voice, and he did another stupid evil laugh.

"Who's this disordered kid?" asked Jay.

"If I remember back, I think Sensei said something about Garmadon starting a family—maybe this Lloyd Garmadon kid is Garmadon's son," said Kai.

"But any other way, if he was causing all the trouble, we cannot fight him, he is only a child," Zane pointed out.

"Which stinks because now I'm bored," Cole complained.

"Come on, let's go straighten the half-pint out," Kai sighed, and he and the other boys made their way to Lloyd. But Lloyd didn't notice them, he only noticed a local fountain and hopped on top of the edge to get more attention that he already has.

"I said give me candy—or I will release the Serpentine on you all!" Lloyd yelled, getting a bit too cocky.

"Serpentine?" asked Kai.

"Serpentine don't exist," Jay scoffed.

"But if there was anything I hated more than dragons, it was snakes," said Cole.

Lloyd was fidgeting in one spot knowing he wasn't getting candy. So Lloyd grabbed out a can, and opened it, only for it to be a peanut-brittle prank and plastic and rubber snakes jumped out at the villagers. The villagers got angry at this, so they started throwing vegetables at Lloyd.

"Hey, I said candy not vegetables!" Lloyd snapped while trying to shield himself from the flying foods. Kai walked up to one of the rubber snakes from Lloyd and flung it directly at the kid, causing him to lose his balance and fall back into the fountain and into the water with a splash. Lloyd stood up, and hopped out of the fountain. "You'll all regret this!" Lloyd yelled, on the verge of sobbing, and ran off and away from the village.

"Sweet kid," Kai said sarcastically.

"Alright, alright, boys, that's enough action and disappointment for now, let's just head back to the monastery," said Cole, and he and the three ninja headed back to their dragons.

"Last one back to the monastery has to cook dinner tonight," Jay said with a smile.

"Well then, make sure Cole doesn't lose," Kai sighed.

"Hey, my cooking's not that bad," Cole said angrily.

"Oh really, remember that one time when you made Duck Chowder—you really think I was quiet throughout all of dinner?" asked Jay. Everyone, except Cole, chuckled at this.

* * *

Dark clouds hovered over the arctic lands as cold winds blew. Lloyd was trudging through the snow, but his eyes were closed. But then Lloyd's red eyes finally came open.

"Ow, my legs, how far have I been walking?" Lloyd asked as he looked up and around at his surroundings, "clearly a while if I'm in the arctic lands," Lloyd said with realization. "Ah!" Lloyd suddenly shrieked when he tripped over something and landed face first in deep snow. Lloyd brought his face slowly from the snow as he glared at nothing in particular. "Alright, what'd I trip over this time?" Lloyd groaned as he turned over to look at his feet and what he tripped over, but what he saw surprised him.

The object Lloyd tripped over was some metal bar coming out of the ice and snow, and this bar was in the carving shape that ended in the shape of a snake head with its fangs bared.

"What the heck?" Lloyd asked as he stood up and put his hand on the bar, but then the bar nudged a bit. "Oh, it is a lever or…" Lloyd asked as he pushed more on the bar that was actually a lever so his voice trailed off.

After Lloyd pushed as far as it could go, nothing happened at first.

"Stupid dud lever," Lloyd complained. But suddenly the grounds in front of Lloyd and the lever began to move, but there were two pieces of land, and they moved apart. The two grounds that moved apart were most likely not part of the real icy grounds. Lloyd gawked down into a giant icy hole where the ground opened. Lloyd also noticed old icy stairs leading down into the whole.

"Something tells me there's something down there," Lloyd said and began to carefully make his way down the stairs. As Lloyd made faint footsteps across the ice, he looked around only to notice the hole lead to a giant and empty ice chamber. For so he thought it was empty. "This place is deserted," Lloyd scoffed when he stopped walking.

"It wasssss very unwissssse to have traveled thisssss far, juvenile," said a dark and calm male voice. Lloyd gasped and turned to see the owner of the voice. The one who said that was a strange snake humanoid.

He was covered in blue, white and yellow scales, and he was as tall as a six foot tall grown man, the snake had a very long tail with a rattle snake rattle at the end, and the snake did have human arms, but his arms were covered in blue scales and his hands faded into dark grey colored scales, and his hands weren't normal, he had very long lands with long claws, the head was in the pointed shape of a snake, and a hood was atop the snake looking creature's head, like that of a King Cobra snake, but the hood was more upright and pointed. There were yellow scaled spiral patterns inside the hood, and down the snake humanoid's tail, back, head, hood, face, and torso were yellow and white scale designs. The snake's scale design was captivating, but not as captivating as his eyes, his eyes were completely red, no whiteness in his eyes, and his irises were a dark red, and there were multiple dark red rings around the iris to make his red eyes hypnotizing. And clutched inside the snakes claws was a long golden staff that was almost as tall as him, and coiled around the staff handle was a golden snake design, and the top of the staff ended with a snake head with a rounded King Cobra hood, and there were two golden fangs, and encrusted in the staff was an orb, and orb that glowed a bright blue color. The snake hissed and stuck out his red snake tongue, but Lloyd was looking at his big fangs.

"W-who are y-you—w-what are you?" Lloyd whimpered.

"I am Ssslithraa, general of the mighty Hypnobrai Tribe," the snake humanoid, or Slithraa, replied as he began to slither slowly with his snake tail trailing behind, and toward Lloyd.

"Tribe?" asked Lloyd.

And his question was answered when more hissing was heard from the dark nooks and crannies of the ice chamber. Other snake humanoids appeared, but unlike Slithraa, they walked on two legs and walked up right like humans. All of the other snakes had blue scales, arms with clawed hands, and grey and yellow designs, but none like Slithraa's. Some snake humanoids had shorter blue hoods with black scale designs, while others had big rounded white hoods but they all still did have red ringed eyes. Though they walked on legs, each snake still had a tail that was just long enough to almost touch the ground. There was one snake humanoid in particular who was standing next to Slithraa, and his face and head was shaped just like Slithraa's unlike all the others, but he still had different scale designs.

"We are one of the many Ssserpentine racessss," Slithraa hissed, earning other hisses from his snake humanoid tribe now called Serpentine.

Lloyd gulped as Slithraa continued to slither his way to Lloyd, resulting in Lloyd trying to back away.

"Sssstop moving sso I can hypnotisssse you," Slithraa demanded, but still in a soft voice. Lloyd shook his head in fear and tried to turn around and run out of the icy chamber, but due to the ice, he had a hard time of keeping balance. When Lloyd tried to pick up speed, so did Slithraa. Lloyd was beginning to run up to a few big sharp shards of ice sticking from the ground, and they were smooth enough to almost be classified as mirrors. Slithraa slithered faster up to Lloyd, and by the time he reached the boy, Lloyd had finally slipped and fallen face first onto the ice.

When Slithraa tried to look Lloyd in the eyes, Lloyd had already fallen, but he fell in front of the clear ice shards, so when Slithraa tried to hypnotize Lloyd, Slithraa looked at his reflection by accident. When Slithraa looked at himself in the ice, he could see the hypnotic red rings in his eyes begin to twirl, ironically hypnotizing his own self.

"Ugh, I think I broke my nose," Lloyd groaned as he sat up and rubbed a hand to his slightly bruised nose. Lloyd forgot about Slithraa for a moment and stood up, but not in front of Slithraa's gaze in the ice. Lloyd finally took notice of Slithraa again, but when he noticed Slithraa wasn't looking at him anymore and instead his reflection, he looked confused. Lloyd would look at Slithraa, and then Slithraa's reflection and then back at Slithraa and so on, and so on. When Lloyd realized what Slithraa did to himself, he snickered. When Slithraa heard the snickering, he blinked her red eyes and was pulled out of his own trance, and he looked wide eyed at Lloyd.

"Masssster—what do you want me to do?" Slithraa asked.

This made Lloyd stop snickering. Lloyd looked around even behind himself before looking at Slithraa again.

"Are you talking to me?" asked Lloyd, with a quirked eye brow. Slithraa lost his patience a bit.

"Yesss, you idiot-I mean my masssster—we are now forever under your control, sssso what do you want usss to do?" Slithraa snapped at first, but then calmed himself. Lloyd pondered this, and looked behind Slithraa at the Hypnobrai Tribe, or now his new slaves. Lloyd grinned.

"Yeah, you're right, I'm your master now, all of you—and the first thing I demand you to do is to steal a few things for me," Lloyd announced to his new snake army.

"General Ssslithraa, thisss issssn't right, we can't take orderssss from a boy!" a Hypnobrai that looked a lot like Slithraa, most likely Slithraa's right hand man, spoke up, but in a crazed childish and scratchy voice, getting Slithraa's attention.

"You do not protesssst to me or the boy, Sssskales—I am your general, and he isss your massster now; what ever we ssssay, goesssss!" Slithraa immediately snapped back at the Hypnobrai called Skales. Skales was taken back by this, but when Slithraa turned his attention away from Skales, Skales glared at his general.

"Yessss—General," Skales hissed under his breath, and stuck out his snake tongue in anger.

* * *

Back in Jamanikai Village, where the ninja had just recently had there encounter with Lloyd, the sun was out and the people were happy now that Lloyd and his tricks and demanding of candy were around anymore.

Surprisingly, Nya and Kate were in the village now, and Nya still wore her bandages, and Kate never left without her bow and quiver full of arrows. As Nya and Kate just walked through the village, they were chatting.

"So, why are we here again?" asked Kate.

"Well, we're here for two reasons, one: we never get to have a girls' time out together," Nya replied.

"True," Kate cut in before Nya could continue.

"And two: I wanted to see what the trouble here was, Kai gave me a call on his cell phone, and said there was no trouble, it was just some boy with a can of worms trying to steal candy," Nya continued. Kate scoffed.

"Oh boy, what an idiot—at least I have sticky fingers," Kate said with a grin.

"Say what?" Nya quickly asked.

Suddenly, as if to prove her point, Kate grabbed out Nya's flip phone from behind her back. Nya stopped in her tracks, and Kate did too as she shot Nya a grin and shook the phone in her hand. Nya snatched her phone back from Kate and put it away and both girls continued walking.

"You little snake," Nya sighed with a grin.

Suddenly, just ruining the funny moment, some cries of terror were heard not too far from the girls. Just a few yards ahead at the out skirts of the town, people were seen running and screaming from something approaching the village. Nya and Kate gasped when they saw Lloyd with a bucket of candy in his hand, and they were especially surprised to see the Hypnobrai tribe behind the boy. Nya looked around in panic.

"Quick, back here," Nya said quietly to not get the approaching Serpentine's attention, and Kate had no choice whether or not to follow Nya because Nya grabbed Kate's arm and dragged her into an ally to hide. Once Nya let go, Kate grabbed her arm that Nya yanked in pain.

"Ow, what were you trying to do, yank my shoulder out of its socket?" Kate asked angrily, but Nya didn't answer because she was too busy looking around the corner of the ally to make sure they were followed by the Serpentine.

"Shhh!" Nya hushed Kate when she turned to look at the preteen girl, "you go back out there and protect any villagers from those, uh, 'things'—I'm going to call Kai and tell him and the ninja to come here," Nya said as she grabbed out her phone.

"How do you expect me to fight away all those snake humanoids?" asked Kate.

"I don't care, use your bow and arrows if you have to, just go!" Nya demanded.

Kate took her bow from her shoulders and loaded it with an arrow head soon after, and she made her way from the ally. As Kate made her way carefully out into the open and towards the Serpentine, she spotted and elderly woman and a young girl huddled together on the ground due to a Hynobrai soldier towering over and hissing at them. Kate aimed at the Hypnobrai, and eventually shot the arrow. The arrow head flew through the air, and soon impaled the snake humanoid right in the head, the arrow even coming out of the other side of the snakes head. Of course, the snake instantly died and collapsed. Kate approached the old lady and the little girl while loading another arrow head.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" asked Kate.

"Y-yes, t-thank you so much," the lady whimpered, and continued to whimper until Kate cut in.

"Ok, it's ok, now get up and get to safety, both of you, now," Kate demanded and beckoned the two with her bow to get up. Eventually, the two civilians got up and ran off, but the old lady look back one last time at Kate and noticed a Hypnobrai approaching her with his fangs and claws bared.

"Oh, look out!" the little girl cried out before the old lady could.

Kate immediately took action and drew the arrow back as far as she could right as she whipped herself around just in time, but also causing the Hypnobrai to notice the arrow head aimed at himself and his hood drooped as he began to slide on his back side as if he were at a base ball game. The snake stopped sliding and was just inches away from Kate. The Hypnobrai was so scared he couldn't even find himself to hypnotize Kate.

"You know, God can't look upon sin—which means he probably can't look upon you either," Kate said with a glare. The snake closed his eyes tight and began to sob softly, "but if I killed another of your kind, He wouldn't want to look upon me either," Kate said, still scowling at the snake. The snake opened his eyes, and dared himself to look at Kate.

"Get up, and don't come back, you here me?!" Kate exclaimed, the snake nodded rapidly, and immediately scampered back to his tribe members, "go cower back to whatever hell hole you crawled out of," Kate grumbled.

Meanwhile, back with Lloyd and the Serpentine, Lloyd was smiling down at his giant bucket full of candy, and General Slithraa and Skales trailing behind Lloyd.

"General Sssslithraa, you're letting a boy usssse usssss to sssteal sweetsss?" asked Skales.

"If I have to tell you again, Sssskales—I'll make you wish you never hatched," Slithraa replied while still slithering and not looking at Skales, making him intimidating.

"A Hypnobrai can hypnotize itsssself, but one Hypnobrai can't hypnotize another Hypnobrai," Skales grumbled under his breath and shook his head in aggravation.

"Masssster, are you pleasssed with the candy amountsss we have helped you gather?" Slithraa asked Lloyd.

"Yeah, I'm very pleased, my slave, so keep it up," Lloyd replied. Lloyd then looked up from his candy and looked at Kate once, who was still standing in the open with her bow, but not loaded, but then Lloyd did a double take.

When Lloyd got a full good look at Kate, his red eyes went wide and his mouth agape. Slithraa looked at Lloyd, confused to what he was looking at, but when he followed Lloyd's gaze and saw Kate too, realization hit him.

"Massster Lloyd, if you wish, I can have my Hypnobrai capture her, sssso you can make her your mate," said Slithraa. This snapped Lloyd out of his trance, and he panicked for a moment.

"Mate?! I-I never said anything about love!" Lloyd exclaimed, but then he calmed himself, "I-I just think she's pretty," Lloyd admitted softly as he began to make a goofy smile while looking at Kate again.

"Hmm, asssss you wish, Massssster Lloyd, but jussst give ussss the word when you want her," said Slithraa.

"Yeah, whatever," Lloyd said while brushing Slithraa off, and he stopped in his tracks just to admire Kate some more.

Meanwhile, with Kate not noticing she was being checked out by Lloyd, she gasped.

"I can't see my next target," Kate said to herself as she reached for an arrow head and eventually loaded her bow with the arrow, and she looked right at Lloyd, "but I know it's right there," Kate continued softly as she drew her arrow back and aimed it right at Lloyd. Lloyd didn't notice Kate looking at him or the arrow aimed at him, but Slithraa did, and he wasn't going to give up on protecting his master.

"Massster, watch out!" Slithraa exclaimed.

"What?" was all Lloyd could say before he turned his head to look at Slithraa, but the arrow was just shot as well.

Slithraa acted fast as he snatched Lloyd's bucket of candy, resulting in the candy spilling, and put the bucket in front of Lloyd's face, which was where the arrow was headed. Lady Luck was on Lloyd's side at the moment as the arrow pierced the bucket, and no one was impaled. Lloyd gasped at the arrow in the bucket, and then he shot a glare at Kate.

"You nearly killed me!" Lloyd snapped. Hearing Lloyd's voice, since she couldn't see him, made Kate's face soften and made her lower her bow.

"Wait, you don't sound like one of them!" Kate called to Lloyd.

"Of course I don't, I'm a kid like you!" Lloyd yelled back, and Kate realized she almost struck down a human, so she gasped.

Suddenly a deep and loud ear piercing roar was heard throughout the village, causing everyone there to cover their ears. The roar came from Rocky, meaning the ninja have just arrived on their dragons a second time at the village. The four boys hopped off their dragons, their golden weapons ready, and ran towards the Serpentine tribe.

"Guys, I know we said they didn't exist, but I'm pretty sure we're running right towards the Serpentine," said Jay.

"Yeah, if that's not a Serpentine, I don't know what is," Cole added.

"Actually, none of you are wrong, they are the only things that can be classified as the ancient Serpentine," Zane added once more while thinking logically.

"Guys, can't we just call these things a bunch of snake humanoids, keep it at that, and fight?!" Kai exclaimed, but no one was able to answer, because by the time Kai finished talking, the boys were in combat with the Hypnobrai.

Cole used the Scythe of Quakes to cut a large wound across the torso Hypnobrai warrior he was fighting. The snake hissed in pain and clutched his wound with his arm and tried to run back to the other Serpentine, but Cole didn't let this one get away, so he took the scythe and cut the snake all the way down his back. Blood splattered from the snake humanoid as he fell to the ground, now breathing his last rasping breaths.

Lloyd, Slithraa, and Skales, were only a few yards away while watching what Cole did to the Hypnobrai.

"Retreat!" Skales called to the other Serpentine before his Master Lloyd or his General Slithraa had a say to anything, and the other Hypnobrai fled away from the village. The ninja cheered as they saw their new enemy flee. Kate wasn't cheering, she was scowling at Slithraa, who was now also cowering away with Lloyd close by his side.

"If I could kill one of their warriors, then I can at least injure their leader," Kate said as she grabbed out yet another arrow head and loaded her bow, drawing all the way back.

"Kate, what are you doing?!" Jay called to Kate, but Kat didn't take her blind eyes off Slithraa.

Kate also didn't answer, she immediately let the arrow fly, but the arrow flew a little bit low. Kate didn't want to kill again, so she aimed not at the head, or the back, but in the section where Slithraa's human like body met his long snake tail. The arrow head soon pierced the lower regions where Slithraa's tail was, and Slithraa grunted in pain and stopped in his tracks, and though he now stood hunched over, he still stood. Lloyd stopped running too, and looked worriedly at Slithraa. Slithraa used his golden snake staff to keep himself up as Lloyd rushed to his aid.

"I'm fine—you are ssstill my masssster, ssso I am ssstill willing to protect you—let'ssss go!" Slithraa replied, and Lloyd kept moving, but not without letting Slithraa lean on him as he slithered on, but not too fast.

Meanwhile, back with the ninja, the girls, and the villagers, the villagers started to emerge from their homes or hiding spots after the Hypnobrai left, and the ninja and the girls walked over to the dragons to leave the village.

"I still can't believe that runt was able to get those Serpentine to follow his lead," Kai complained.

"Who?" Kate asked, confused about who Kai was talking about.

"It was the same boy, Lloyd, who made our first trip here worthless—guess he's actually smart enough to get his own slaves to do his pointless work," Kai replied.

"He's also Lord Garmadon's son—at least that's our theory," Jay added.

"I didn't know Garmadon had an heir," said Nya.

"That's what we said when we heard the brat rambling on about him being the son of Garmadon," said Cole.

"Which means I almost killed not just a human—but also almost the son of the possible future dark lord of Ninjago," Kate said with wide.

"Hey," Cole said as he nudged Kate in the arm, getting her attention, "I kind of wish you did, sure he's young, like your age I think, but he was willing to use a dangerous snake humanoid army to do anything just to make them do the kid's pointless plans—even if it meant them killing a few innocent people," said Cole.

"But killed or not, you did the right thing, Kate," Zane said softly.

"Yeah, I guess you're all right," Kate said in defeat.

"Of course we are, now because we were called back here, we didn't get to finish our race, so it's still on," Jay said with a grin as he and the others finally approached the dragons.

"By the way, how did you get here before we did—unless you two grew wings or something," said Kai.

"I called a friend, and had her drive us here," Nya replied.

"Since when did Ninjago step into the modern world?" asked Cole as he mounted Rocky.

"Actually, I believe it was-," Zane began, but Cole cut him off.

"That was a rhetorical question," Cole cut in flatly.

Soon Kai, Zane, and Jay began to mount their dragons too. Jay made a goofy grin as he offered a hand down to Nya so she could ride with Jay on Wisp. Kai noticed Jay trying to flirt with Nya and scowled at this. Kai was about to go and yell at Jay, but Kate stepped in his way and stopped him.

"Maybe give Nya this chance," Kate said softly. Kai inhaled and exhaled.

"Alright fine. Nya's just been through too much already, I don't want her to go through more. I want her to stay protected," Kai said in defeat as he mounted Flame. Kai watched as Nya got on Wisp and sat behind Jay, eventually wrapping her arms around Jay's waist. But the whole time, Kate wasn't staring at anything in particular as she had a sad expression.

"Yeah," Kate said as she finally turned her head to look at the others, "and now with you being part of the ninja team, the guys are like your family too, and so is Wu—I can see why you would want them protected, and for all of them to live a long and happy life," Kate continued, but in a sad tone, and even a small tear rolled down her cheek. Kate turned her face back towards Kai, and Kai noticed her depressed look.

"You ok?" asked Kai. Kate rubbed the tear away and shook her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine—just remembering a bad dream from last night," Kate replied.

"Oh, well, ok, and you can ride with me if you want," Kai aid as he extended a hand to Kate, and she gladly took it and sat behind Kai on Flame.

"Come on guys, I'm still going to beat you all back to the monastery!" Cole exclaimed with a smile as Rocky stood up and was ready to run.

"Uh, yeah, you are, we still don't like your cooking!" Jay exclaimed to Cole as his dragon, Wisp, and the other two dragons, Flame and Shard began lift off. The others laughed at Jay, except for Cole.


	7. Chapter 7 - Into the Slither Pit

Chapter 7 – Into the Slither Pit

Back in the icy chambers in the north, where the Hypnobrai Serpentine Tribe dwelled, the Hypnobrai have just arrived back at their chambers. Since Slithraa was still affected from the injury of being shot by one of Kate's arrows, he, with Lloyd's help, was trailing behind the tribe.

"General Slithraa, you aren't doing so well," Lloyd whispered to Slithraa, "if the others see you as weak and helpless, you might have to step down from being general, then neither of us will have power over the tribe," Lloyd continued.

"Hmm," Slithraa began as he nodded, "you are right, Massster, but don't worry, sssssoon, I will recover from my injury and will be ssstrong enough to do your biddingsss again," Slithraa hissed.

"Well, whatever it takes for you to get better and not knocked off the throne," said Lloyd. Slithraa soon spotted a near by Hypnobrai chatting with another tribe member.

"You there!" Slithraa called to the Hypnobrai, getting his attention, "yesss you—come here and dissssslodge thissss arrow from me," Slithraa said when the Hypnobrai got close, and turned his body so the arrow head impaling his tail was facing the Hypnobrai. The Hypnobrai warrior wasted no time in clutching the arrow in both his claws, and immediately ripped it out of Slithraa's scaly body, resulting it a few drops of blood splattering onto the ice, and Slithraa grunting in pain.

Skales and many other Hypnobrai were watching Slithraa in his state of weakness.

"You moron, that hurt!" Slithraa snapped as he bonked the Hypnobrai on the head with his golden snake staff.

"He isss in a weak ssstate—now would be the perfect time to challenge Sssslithraa in a Ssslither Pit. If he iss defeated by hisss opponent, he will have to sssstep down, and then we will have a new, and hopefully better, leader," a Hypnobrai was explaining quietly to the others, and Skales was pondering this the most.

"If hisss opponent wassss to defeat him, eh?" Skales repeated to himself, and slowly smiled an evil smile, "Mezmo," Skales called to a near by Hypnobrai with a short and small hood with black scaled designs on the inside of his hood, and he had a fairly pointed snout, "prepare the Ssslither Pit—I feel assss if a challenge isss about to sssstart," Skales continued with a grin.

"Yessss, Commander Ssskalessss," said the snake Skales was talking to, or now called Mezmo, replied and ran off into the deeper and darker parts of the icy chambers.

Skales made his way over to Slithraa, who was trying his best not to collapse from pain of just having an arrow removed, so he clung to his staff, and panted softly, and Lloyd looked worriedly at him, but neither the general or the master noticed Skales, so Skales clutched the staff in one of his clawed hands. Slithraa and Lloyd noticed Skales so they looked up at him.

"Asss much asss it hurtsss me to sssay thisss," Skales began, almost sarcastically, "I'm afraid you are too weak to lead the tribe—and you musssst ssstep down now," said Skales.

"How dare you, Ssskales—I am not jussst going to give up the place assss general of the tribe," Slithraa said angrily as he glared at his second in command.

"Well, I'm sssorry to hear that, becaussse that would mean you would have to fight for place asss general in the Ssslither Pit," Skales explained.

"And, jusssst who isss my opponent for the Sssslither Pit?" asked Slithraa as he straightened himself to stand up straight. "Slither Pit" by Jay Vincent began to play.

"I am," Skales replied, and as if on cue, torches were suddenly lit within the depths of the chambers, and another big ice chamber was revealed.

A center plaza was in the middle of an icy gorge, but there were other ice ledges surrounding the plaza, and in the middle, hanging from the ice ceiling was a hanger for weapons made of ice, weapons like axes, swords, and a shield, and the hanger was in the shape of a dragon's head, and the weapons hung from the dragons teeth and other ice hooks on the dragon shaped hanger.

Skales ran so he could hop from the ice ledge and onto the plaza and turned back around to face Slithraa again, who was slithering slowly up to the plaza as well.

"Defeat me, and the ssstaff and place assss general are both yoursssss to keep, but if I beat you—I will take the sssstaff and become the new general, and you will then lissssten to me," Skales hissed.

"Sssskales," Slithraa began as he got onto the plaza, with the help of a few other Hypnobrai, "I get that you mussst feel neglected about being ssssecond in command and not leader, and I guessss I apologissse about that, but issss thissss really drasssstic enough timessss to make you want to take down your general?" asked Slithraa.

"Yesss, I am very willing to take you down to be leader, you sssnake in the grasss," Skales hissed while glaring at Slithraa as Slithraa slithered up to Skales.

"Hmm, I admire you desssire to be leader, it issss sssstrong. I will battle you—but only assss long assss you keep thissss a good clean fight," said Slithraa.

"Good, but know that thisss issss the Ssslither Pit—fightssss in here are never clean," said Skales, and soon Skales look up at a higher ice lead with a table of button and levers, and Mezmo was atop the ledge and at the controls, "Mezmo!" Skales called Mezmo's name, signaling Mezmo that the fight could begin.

All of the other Hypnobrai gathered on the ice ledges to watch the fight, and one Hypnobrai took a rope and tied Lloyd by his wrists to a giant ice shard so he couldn't run away from the chambers.

"You had better hope for the bessst that Ssslithraa winsss, becaussse if he losesss—you will be nothing to usss anymore," the Hypnobrai tying Lloyd up hissed softly at Lloyd, only making Lloyd whimper a bit. The Hypnobrai stayed close to Lloyd, but he didn't watch him, instead he had his back turned to Lloyd while watching the Slither Pits.

"All of you should know the rulesss of the Ssslither Pit, the challenger, Sssskalessss, mussst do what ever he can to hissss opponent, Sssslithraa, to defeat him in combat, but with out killing him, but remember that whatever I sssay goesss!" Mezmo announced to everyone, and Skales and Slithraa nodded at Mezmo, "ready you two?" Mezmo called down to Skales and Slithraa, who soon got into fighting stance and faced each other, "fight!" Mezmo announced, finally beginning the fight.

Skales was first to throw a punch, but Slithraa grabbed Skales' wrist, blocking his punch to Slithraa's mouth. But Skales was quick to act, so he jerked his arm, but since Slithraa's grip was still on it, Slithraa was pulled down a bit, letting Skales practically run up Slithraa's body and soon kicked Slithraa in the mouth with his clawed bipedal leg. The impact of being kicked in the face caused a pop sound to emerge from Slithraa's jaws, and his tongue was waving out as well, and unlucky for Slithraa, the kick was even powerful enough to knock one of Slithraa's two front fangs from his mouth. Skales kicked Slithraa hard enough to make the tooth fly far enough and all the way towards Lloyd.

The tooth landed on the ice and skidded in Lloyd's direction, but it didn't go directly at Lloyd, instead the tooth slid towards the ice shard Lloyd was tied to, and it soon made its way into a little crack in the bottom of the shard big enough for the tooth to slide into. But after the tooth slid into the crack, there was the sound of paper being slightly torn, and that got Lloyd's attention.

"That sounded like paper," Lloyd said to himself, and tried to dig a foot into the crack and search around since both his hands were tied up. Lloyd was able to fit his foot into the crack, and his foot eventually hit something, and he began to drag whatever his foot had a hold of out slowly.

But back with the fight in the Slither Pit, the tribe hissed and cheered at the fight as Skales scowled at Slithraa, who was holding his snake jaws in pain. When Slithraa took his claws from his mouth and turned his face towards Skales, Skales was able to see what damage he did to Slithraa's jaw. Since the fang was knocked from Slithraa's mouth, there was a gaping hole where the fang once was, and there was a bloody rip from the fang's place and up into Slithraa's lip, and blood seeped from the hole and down Slithraa's chin.

"Sssside Wonder!" Mezmo announced, and pulled a lever from the control table. Soon the plaza Skales and Slithraa were on began to rock, and at a not so steep angle, from side to side slowly.

Slithraa had a snake tail, making it easy to keep his grip as he kept his arms out to keep balance, but Skales wasn't like Slithraa, so he fell completely over and dug the claws on his hands into the ice to keep from sliding so much.

"Ha, ha, too bad you don't have a tail!" Slithraa admitted with a smile, but his voice was a bit slurred from the blood. Skales made a glare that would kill, if looks could kill, at Slithraa. Soon when the rocking of the plaza slowed, Skales stood up, and scraped the claws of his bipedal legs onto the ice.

"No, but thisss battle issssn't over yet!" Skales snapped.

"Maybe it will be sssoon—Two Weaponssss!" Mezmo announced, and pressed a button.

The dragon shaped hanger from above lowered itself so Skales and Slithraa could claim their weapons. Skales chose two ice katana, and Slithraa chose an ice shield and ice axe.

Slithraa acted too quickly and threw his axe, only resulting in Skales dodging it, but the axe flew through the air and towards an ice ledge with a group of Hypnobrai. The axe flew low, but it caught the tail end of a Hypnobrai and chopped it clean off. The Hypnobrai that just had the tip of his tail cut off stared wide eyed at his tail as he picked it up and tears leaked from his red ringed eyes and his large white hood drooped as he stared at his poor tail.

Meanwhile, back with Lloyd, he finally dragged whatever object with his foot out of the crack, and he gasped when he saw not only Slithraa's fang, but also an old rolled up piece of parchment. Lloyd quickly tried to free his hands from the rope, and he was able to free one hand from its knot hole. Lloyd looked around to make sure no one was watching him, and then he slowly reached for the rolled up paper and when he had it in his grasp, he tucked it away for later. Lloyd then remembered the fang, so he quickly grabbed the fang and began to rub the sharp end of the fang against the rope, trying to cut the rope.

Back with the fight between Slithraa and Skales, Skales was about to strike Slithraa with his two ice katana, while Slithraa only now has an ice shield. Skales struck a few times at the shield with his katana, causing a few tiny ice shards to fly. But then Skales slashed Slithraa in the throat, but the slash wasn't enough to kill Slithraa, only enough to create a small gash on Slithraa's neck. Skales held one katana at Slithraa's neck, and used his other katana to quickly to bash at Slithraa's shield, and Slithraa wasn't ready for that, so Slithraa's arm dropped, but he still held onto the shield. Skales took the advantage of Slithraa's hand holding the shield, in particular, being lower. So Skales took his leg and stepped down hard and fast on the shield, but since Slithraa still had a grip on his shield, his arm was bent the wrong way, and a loud SNAP was heard from his arm, and he finally dropped the shield in the process.

Slithraa cried in pain and dropped onto his back in defeat. Skales had a katana pressed against Slithraa's neck, awaiting his next move. Slithraa panted and looked around sadly at his tribe, before looking back at Skales.

"You win," Slithraa began, resulting in Skales grinning and the tribe cheering, "I will ssstep down, the sssstaff isss yoursss, and you are now general…" Slithraa continued, but then he stopped again, not wanting to say the next part.

"And…" Skales said, wanting Slithraa to say it.

"…and I now take ordersss from you," Slithraa sighed, and stood up while clutching his broken arm.

A random Hypnobrai approached with the golden general staff in hand, or now Skales' staff. Mezmo pressed a button on the controls to raise the weapons back up, and to make the plaza stop rocking as Skales took the staff, but a sudden golden glow began to surround Skales and Slithraa.

Slowly, the scale design on both Skales and Slithraa began to change, Slithraa got Skales' scale design on his head and body, and Skales got Slithraa's scale design on his head and body too. Pretty soon, Skales' bipedal legs transformed into a snake tail, much like Slithraa's tail, but Slithraa's snake tail soon changed into two bipedal legs.

Since Slithraa wasn't used to having legs, his legs were shaky, and Slithraa even dropped onto one knee. Skales couldn't be more happy, so he let out many evil laughs and cackles.

"Wait," Skales said when he stopped laughing and he turned his gaze towards Lloyd. But right at the same time, Lloyd had just managed to cut through the rope and cut himself free.

"You!" Skales snapped just as the roped snapped, and Lloyd gasped and looked at Skales.

"Oh no, Slithraa!" Lloyd called to the weakened and defeated Slithraa.

"Sssorry boy, he lossst, which meansss you are no longer in power," said Skales, but then Skales noticed that Lloyd had cut himself free with Slithraa's fang. Lloyd followed Skales' gaze, and his eyes went wide as he quickly dropped the fang, "hmm, you are worethlesss to me now," Skales said calmly, "get out, and hope we never meet again, boy!" Skales continued loudly to make his point.

Lloyd whimpered and ran out of the icy chamber and out into the arctic winds. Lloyd wrapped his arms around himself to keep warm, and a tear rolled down his cheek. But Lloyd gasped, and he quickly grabbed out the parchment from the crack in the ice. Lloyd unrolled it, and looked over it for a moment.

There were symbols on the map, symbols like a blue and yellow hypnotic spiral, like the spiral designs of the Hypnobrai, and there was another symbol representing constriction that was black and white colored, another green symbol with a drop of green liquids surrounded by a light green circle with dripping green liquid, another symbol with a red snake tongue between to white sharp snake teeth, and then there was another small picture, a picture of a giant fang shaped rock monument. The symbol of the spiral was located in a snowy mountain region, just like the climate Lloyd was in, on the paper.

"Wait a second, this looks like the Hypnobrai symbol, and it looks like this is saying the tomb of the Hypnobrai is located in the tundra lands," Lloyd said as he examined the map, but then looked around at the snow and ice around him, "yeah, ain't that the truth," Lloyd said flatly, and then looked back down at the paper, "Slithraa did say they were one of the many Serpentine species, and if this shows the location of the Hypnobrai tomb, then this must be a map to all of the Serpentine tombs," Lloyd said as he began to perk up, but then he began to grin.

"If I find the other tombs and make the Serpentine my slaves, then I can not only get revenge on the Hypnobrai and those ninja students of my stupid Uncle Wu, but then I can finally follow in my father's footsteps, and make him proud, and all will know of the reign of the son of Lord Garmadon," Lloyd explained to himself. Lloyd then began another one of his pathetic evil laughs.


	8. Chapter 8 - Suicide and Fangpyre

Chapter 8 – Suicide and the Fangpyre

The night sky had fallen when the ninja, Wu, and the girls were all gathered at a dining room table at the monastery, but Zane was not at the table at the moment.

"One of our best ideas ever to rig the race back home so Zane would lose and have to cook dinner tonight," Jay said with a smile, but not so loud that Zane would hear them all the way in the kitchen, apparently cooking dinner.

"Yeah, yeah, you're just lucky that I like Zane's cooking too, I'm still offended though," Cole grumbled.

"Don't be such a Negative Nancy, Cole," said Kate.

"Dinner has been prepared," Zane's soft voice came from the kitchen as he brought in a giant bowl of spaghetti and a platter of chicken.

When Zane sat the food down on the table, everyone got a full vision of Zane's pink apron over his white ninja suit. Everyone, except Kate and Wu, began to snicker, and no sooner did they burst out laughing. Wu and Zane stared at everyone with confusion, but Kate was angry at them.

"Guys, it's not wrong to where an apron, that just means Zane likes to stay clean while cooking!" Kate exclaimed.

"True," Cole began as he tried to calm down ad wiped a tear of joy from his eye, "but of course it's wrong when you're a grown man," Cole tried to say between laughs.

Soon with a BONK sound, Wu had just knocked Cole upside the head with his staff.

"Ouch!" Cole cried in pain and rubbed his head.

"You may find it easy to laugh at others' pain, but it's not as easy to laugh when it's your own pain, is it?" Wu said calmly. Cole rolled his eyes.

"Well, I hope you all enjoy the meal, I am going to dispose the garbage," Zane said sadly as he turned towards the full garbage can in the room, took out the bag and left.

Everyone at the table practically ignored Zane as they began to gorge themselves with Zane's food. But Kate wasn't eating; she was looking in the direction where Zane left.

* * *

Zane had just walked out onto the empty training course, but the course was not up and running. Zane trumped his way towards the gates to the monastery where a large garbage can sat. When Zane put the garbage in the can, he sighed a depressing sigh. Zane then looked down at his pink apron, and then he glared at it. No sooner did Zane try to rip off his apron, but to no avail, so Zane sighed and untied the knots behind his back. When his apron was off he got angry again and tossed the apron into the garbage can. Zane calmed himself as he stared down at the ground sadly.

"I cannot even cry when I am sad," Zane said to himself, and then he looked up at the starry night sky, "what am I?" Zane asked himself.

"Zane, are you ok?" Kate's voice came from behind. Zane was snapped out of his sadness, and he turned to see Kate walking up to him.

"Yes, I am fine—you didn't need to check on me, you can go back and eat dinner," Zane replied softly.

"Well, I'm sure you put some good effort into making that wonderful dinner—but I'm not hungry—and though I can't see it, I feel that you are depressed, so what's eating you?" asked Kate.

Zane looked into Kate's purple irises and sighed. "I feel that I am—different, I am not like the others," Zane sighed.

"So? I'm different too," Kate protested.

"Yes, but at least you have a sense of humor, and you can cry when you are sad—and I feel like I can't do any of those things," said Zane. Zane then turned looked away from Kate walked over to the edge of the mountain, but he wasn't going down the stairs.

"Zane, I feel as if you are too close to the edge, what are you doing?" Kate asked with worry.

Zane didn't answer a first, instead he stuck his arms straight out.

"I am sorry I have to leave," Zane replied, but loud enough for Kate to hear.

Just then Kate gasped and her eyes lit up and sparkled again.

"No," Kate said softly, too soft for Zane to hear, and she shook her head. Soon, Kate's eyes stopped glowing and she stared wide eyed at Zane, who was actually about to drop from the side of the mountain.

Kate quickly sprinted over to Zane, and lucky for Zane, against his wishes, Kate grabbed the back of his ninja suit and pulled him back. Kate stepped in front of Zane and pushed him away from the edge.

"Kate, what were you thinking?" Zane asked, surprisingly a bit angrily.

"Me? What were you thinking?" asked Kate. Zane sighed and turned.

"Zane—it is not your time," Kate said softly.

Suddenly a few bird screeches and chirps were heard. Kate and Zane both looked up to find the black feathered hawk perched atop the gate to the monastery.

"A hawk?" asked Zane.

"Yeah, this hawk follows me sometimes, and for good reasons—he has things to show me, but now I think he has something to show you," Kate said softly with a smile. As if to prove Kate's point, the hawk nodded once while staring at Zane. The hawk fluttered it wings and began lift off, and flew into the horizon, but not before hovering and turning to look back at Zane and Kate.

"Well, I'm following him with or with out you, but I don't think he's leaving without you, so I don't think you have a choice," said Kate. Zane sighed but smiled and ran off with Kate to follow the hawk, and descended the stairs of the mountain.

* * *

Zane and Kate followed the hawk and arrived in a desolate and dark forest, with some dark and dead trees. When the hawk landed and led the two to where it wanted them, he landed on an old and dead twisted tree in the middle of an old abandoned grave yard.

Kate and Zane walked into the grave yard and looked around, but when they walked up to the old tree in the middle, they didn't notice the round concrete door that was barely visible since it was covered faintly in grass and dirt.

"Why would it lead us here?" Zane asked as he looked around.

"How would I know, I still can't see where 'here' is," Kate replied with a little anger.

"Oh right—he seemed to have lead us to an old graveyard in a desolate forest, but I don't see the point in-," Zane replied, but he was interrupted by Kate.

"Shh!" Kate cut in, and as if on cue, there was the sound of leaves crunching under foots steps approaching, "hide!" Kate snapped in a whisper.

As fast as they could, Kate and Zane ran behind the old tree to hide from whom ever was coming. Little did they know it was just Lloyd.

Lloyd was walking up to the tree with a grin on his face as he held a lit flash light in one hand, and the map of the Serpentine tombs in the other. But Lloyd didn't know that Zane and Kate were their, they were hiding on the other side of the tree Lloyd was walking up to.

"A little bit dark and spooky," Lloyd said to himself as his smile disappeared, but then he shook his head and grinned again, "b-but I like dark and scary—that's what the son of the dark lord should take interest in, right?" Lloyd asked himself. Lloyd looked at his map and at a picture of the symbol with the red snake tongue between the two white snake teeth that was next to an old cripple tree, the same tree before Lloyd.

"If I read this map right, which I should have, because I have an elite sense of direction," Lloyd bluffed with a chuckle, "there should be another serpentine tomb right here," Lloyd continued. Lloyd waved his flashlight at the tree with a look of confusion. Lloyd then began to walk around the tree to look, but that would mean Kate and Zane's cover would be blown.

"Oh no, they're coming," Zane whispered. Kate acted as fast as she could. Lucky for them, Kate still didn't leave with out her bow and quiver of arrows, so Kate immediately took her bow and took an arrow head and loaded her bow. Kate looked around the other end of the tree, and aimed. Kate shot the arrow at a nearby grave stone. When the arrow hit the stone, it caused a snapping sound, catching Lloyd's attention just before he reached Kate and Zane.

"Hmm?" Lloyd asked as he waved his flashlight toward the direction of the arrow, but then Lloyd noticed something he didn't before. He gasped when his flashlight hit the ground and landed on the faded concrete door engraved in the earth. Lloyd scoffed.

"Stupid geographers—the tomb entrance is in the ground, not in the tree, what a bunch of idiots," Lloyd said as he got down on his knees near the concrete. Lloyd soon found a big and strong tree limb, and tried to stuff it between the concrete and the dirt. Lloyd had to jump a few times onto the other end of the limb to lift up the door through the dirt and grass. Lloyd smiled to have lifted the door all the way up, and under the door was a big black hole, and it was so dark in the whole, nothing was visible. Lloyd looked down into the hole, and was soon answered by hisses. Suddenly, a clawed hand, much like the Hypnobrai, except the hand was covered in black scales and the arm was covered in red scales, shot from the hole and the claws dug into the earth. The sudden movement caused Lloyd to shriek and scoot back a bit. The arm was connected to another different kind of snake humanoid.

This one, had a very long snake tail, like Slithraa once had, but this snake was a little bit taller than the Hypnobrai general. His head was shaped differently too, he had a head that took a pit viper appearance, and what was very surprising was that this snake didn't have one head, but two, two viper snake heads. The snake general was covered in red, black and white scales, and he had black and white scale designs down his torso and back and tail. The two snake heads had glowing pure white eyes with black snake slit eyes, and he had very long and nicely curved fangs, even longer than the Hypnobrai's fangs, but also thinner. The snake had a staff clutched in his claws, a staff that looked just like the Hypnobrai's general staff, but instead of a blue crest, it was a red crest.

"What kind of Serpentine are you?" Lloyd asked a bit shaky as he stood up while not taking his red eyes off the snake.

"Vee are-the Fangpyre tribe-und vee are thankful-you have ssset usss-free," the Fangpyre general replied in an accent much like a vampire, but since he had two heads, each head would take a turn at speaking.

"Well, you're welcome, ahem, I'm Lloyd, and I set you free to see if we could team up, but in a master and slave relationship, what do you say?" said Lloyd, as he bent down and picked up the map and his flashlight, and rolled up the paper and put it in his back pocket. The snake's two heads looked at each other before looking back at Lloyd.

"Vell, firssst of all-my name isss Fangtom-and vee vould verk vith you-asss our massster- but vee are a bit short-on tribe membersss," the snake, or Fangtom, replied.

"Well, what do you want me to if you're tribe is small?" asked Lloyd.

"Oh, vee don't need-any help from you-vee can make our own army-but vee need to find-some people and/or machinery," Fangtom replied.

"Hmm," Lloyd though for a moment, before his face lit up and he smile, "hey, I think I know a place I just passed by on my way here, and it's a junk yard full of the things you need—well except for maybe people," Lloyd explained.

"That vill verk-take usss to the junk yard-und vee vill be-unsssstoppable," Fangtom replied with a grin.

"Ok, ok, but first, when you say 'us', how may are we talking about?" asked Lloyd.

And just to answer his question, the rest of the entire Fangpyre tribe members jumped out from the hole, but the tribe was still at least less than half the amount of the Hypnobrai tribe.

"Oh," Lloyd replied, a little bit scared as the snakes all glared at him.

The snakes all had red, black and white scales designs, like Fangtom, and they had viper like heads as well, but they only had one head. But there was one Fangpyre that walked on two bipedal legs, but looked exactly like Fangtom, and even had two heads like Fangtom, so he was most likely Fangtom's second in command.

"It's not as large as the last tribe, but it's a start," Lloyd said with a sheepish chuckle and smile, "alright, so the main plan is to get to the junk yard, and all of you do what you need to do there to bring up the numbers of the tribe, once all that's done, we will get revenge on the last Serpentine tribe that betrayed me—and then we set up an attack for my uncle's ninja team!" Lloyd announced.

The whole time, Kate and Zane still managed to stay hidden behind the tree, and they were listening in on what was said the whole time. When the two heard the last part that Lloyd said, they gasped and looked at each other with worry.

"We have got to get back to the monastery to warn the others," Zane whispered. But little did they know that a random Fangpyre hear they're whispering, and he turned his attention towards the tree.

"Ok, I get it—when they leave we'll make a run for it," Kate whispered back as the Fangpyre walked up to the tree and towards Zane and Kate unnoticed.

Suddenly, the Fangpyre looked behind the tree and discovered Kate and Zane. Kate and Zane saw the Fangpyre staring wide eyed at them. The two were staring wide eyed and agape back at the red snake. Without even looking away from the snake's gaze, Kate immediately got out another arrow and loaded her bow, and in the blink of an eye, she pulled back on the arrow while it was aimed at the Fangpyre. Before anyone could say anything, Kate shot the arrow, and the arrow head just flat out impaled the spot between the snake's eyes. As soon as the snake fell dead, Kate grabbed Zane's wrist and dragged him away while they could still get out of there.

When Lloyd and the Fangpyre tribe heard the thud caused by the snake that just got shot by Kate drop dead to the ground, they just stared flatly at the body.

"Vone lessss-mouth to feed—now let'ssss move out-fellow Fangpyre!" Fangtom announced, and he began to slither away with his long tail trailing behind him. Lloyd ran up beside Fangtom and looked up at the two headed general with confusion.

"So, when some of the other tribe members died while you were all still trapped, what did you do with the bodies?" asked Lloyd, and one snake head looked at Lloyd while the other didn't so he could look where he was going.

"Oh, vee ate-the meat on them-until there vaz-nothing but bones und scales left," Fangtom replied, even if one head still wasn't looking at Lloyd. Fangtom's answer surprised Lloyd, and he stopped in his tracks as his eyes wide and one eye twitched.

"Ha, ha-vee vere only-yanking your chain-Lloyd," Fangtom laughed. Lloyd let out a sigh of relief and continued to walk. But then one head of Fangtom's turned itself to look creepily back at Lloyd.

"Or vere vee?" the head asked with intimidation. When the head turned back around, Lloyd stopped in his tracks again.

* * *

Back at the monastery, the sky was still dark. The boys were in a dark game room, and were dressed in pajamas of their elemental colors, and each had a video game control as they played against each other in a video game, and Nya sat in a reading chair in the corner of the room with a small lit lamp while she read a book, but Wu was not to be seen in the room.

Suddenly the sound of the doors to the monastery shutting hard was heard throughout the building.

"Hey, Kate, Zane, is that you? you guys were out for so long! Where were you two?!" Jay exclaimed so Zane and Kate could hear. Zane and Kate came into the room, but Kate wasn't happy. Kate stomped in front of the big, block shaped T.V., blocking the boys' view of their game, so they paused it.

"Hey, what are you doing?! I was about to reach my high score!" Cole whined.

"No you weren't, I was!" Kai bickered.

"Oh shut up, spark plug!" Cole bickered back.

Kate rolled her eyes and then looked at Zane who was standing in the door way next to a light switch.

"Zane, would you do the honors?" Kate asked, and Zane nodded as he reached for the light switch. Zane flipped the switch, and an over head light in the room turned on, blinding the boys as they grunted in pain and shielded their eyes.

"Guys, this isn't the time for games—I hope you know the pain you caused Zane earlier was enough to make him want to commit suicide, so you're all lucky I was there to stop him—but you better apologize," Kate explained. Everyone, even Nya, was taken back by this, so they all pt their heads down in shame.

"Sorry, Zane," the boys said in unison.

"Yeah, sorry," Nya sighed.

"I accept your apology—but it was rather unwise of me to think I should have left this world—so I am sorry too," Zane sighed.

"It's ok, buddy, we still love you, and we all make stupid decisions that are dimwitted enough to practically get us on World's Dumbest," Jay said with a smile.

"But that's not the big picture here—the thing is, Zane and I followed a friend of mine out into an old forest—and we found Lloyd there," Kate explained.

"Lloyd?" Wu's voice asked, as he suddenly appeared behind Zane, and Zane moved so Wu could enter the room. "What did you see him do?" Wu asked with worry in his eyes as he looked straight into Kate's eyes.

"Well, we heard him say something about Serpentine tombs, and soon enough, Lloyd found a tomb there in the forest, and he opened it up to let out a tribe by the name of Fangpyre, I think," Zane explained for Kate.

"And now he's taking the tribe to a junk yard to get some more quote-unquote 'tribe members'," Kate continued.

Jay's eyes widened at this, but no one noticed.

"Oh no...the Fangpyre tribe is powerful, much like the Hypnobrai—but unlike the Hypnobrai, the Fangpyre don't rely on their piecing scale designs or unique eyes, they rely on their venom and hair-splitting fangs—the Fangpyre are able to turn anything into a serpent monster like them on whatever they can sink their teeth into, whether it being an inanimate object or a living thing," Wu explained.

"And a junk yard is full of old machinery they could use," Cole pointed out.

"Oh great, first we had to deal with the Skullkin's monster skull trucks, and now we might have to deal with serpent monster vehicles, well that's just great," Kai sighed sarcastically.

Jay began to get a very worried look and even began to pant.

"Uh, Jay, are you ok?" Nya asked as she was first to notice Jay's behavior.

"Uh, what, oh yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Jay answered a bit quickly as a few beads of sweat rolled down the side of his face.

"Dude, you're sweating, you're definitely not fine," Cole said flatly.

"Yeah, so tell us what's eating at you," said Kate.

"Nothing is, because humans are at the top of the food chain," Jay said while giving a sheepish smile.

Everyone stared flatly at him because of his bad joke. Jay's smile dropped to a frown.

"Well, I thought it was funny. Fine I'll tell you, you see, my parents live in a junk yard, and there's a slight chance that that's the junk yard Lloyd's taking the Fangpyre to, and I don't want my parents in danger," Jay admitted.

"Is that it? Man, you don't have to hide the fact that you love your parents and that you care about them, we would do the same if it was our parents," said Cole.

"Or at least for the ones in here that still have parents," Kai sighed sadly, making Zane, Kate, and Nya bow their heads in sorrow, knowing that none of them have parents.

"But the point now is for all of us to head out and try to stop my nephew and the Fangpyre he has now let loose," Wu pointed out.

"Oh yeah, I forgot, you're Garmadon's brother, which would make you Lloyd's uncle—heh, man, it must suck for you to have a bratty nephew like Lloyd," Jay chuckled at his pointless statement.

"Gee, thanks," Wu said sarcastically.

"Zane and I know what direction Lloyd and the Serpentine were going in, so we could take the dragons and follow them," Kate pointed out. Cole, Jay, and Kai stood up from the couch they were sitting on.

"Ninja-Go!" the three yelled in unison as they did Spinjitzu and were engulfed in their mini tornado of their respective element. When they stopped spinning, they were dressed in their ninja suits.

"Best magic trick ever—but I'm still working on the sawing-someone-in-half trick," Jay said with a smile, but then he put a finger to his chin to think. Everyone stared wide eyed at Jay.

"Ok, no one give Jay any sharp objects of any kind," Kai said slowly.

"Hey Presto and his rabbits, let's go!" Kate exclaimed, and the three boys realized that Zane, Nya and Wu have already left the room for the trip in pursuit of the Fangpyre and Lloyd. Kate and the three remaining ninja ran out of the room, caught up with the others, ran out of the monastery, and finally ran down the staircase to the dragon stables.

But when they got at the entrance of each stable, none of the dragons were there and at the ready. Instead, Flame was in the farthest corner in the back of the large stable and was lying down and curled around something, but whatever Flame was curled up around wasn't visible because he had his wings open over his side, and for some reason, the other three dragons were standing around Flame, like as if they were guarding Flame.

"Uh, what's up with the dragons?" asked Kai.

"Yeah, and what's Flame doing just lying there?" Kai added. Jay and Zane were first and only to walk into the stable and up to their dragons, but as they approached their dragons, all of the dragons began to growl and bare their teeth. Jay and Zane were surprised at the dragons' behavior and stopped in their tracks.

"Shard, what are you doing, what's wrong with you?" Zane asked his ice dragon. Shard only replied by taking a step toward Zane and snapping his jaws at Zane. Zane stepped back, but Jay only watched, and then looked worriedly at his dragon, Wisp.

"Wisp, don't tell me you'll treat me the same way, I mean, you still love me, right?" asked Jay. Wisp only shot a small lightning rod from his mouth and it hit Jay, and it was enough to singe his brown hair and make him covered in soot and ashes. Jay coughed up a little cloud of smoke before speaking.

"I think I get your message-ACK...but a simple growl would've said it all," Jay said in a hoarse voice.

Without warning, Rocky stepped in between Shard, Wisp, Zane and Jay, but shot his green glare at Jay and Zane.

"Jay, I think it's time to go!" Zane exclaimed, and as if on cue Rocky began to chase them out of the stable. When Jay and Zane got out of the stables and out to the others, they realized Rocky stopped at the stables' entrance and growled at them all. Rocky let out one last deep growl before turning back to the other dragons, but he pounded his tail against the ground, making a loud BOOM sound and shaking the ground. Everyone remained in silence for a moment.

"Yeah, I don't think we'll be getting a ride from them anytime soon," Kate said, breaking the silence.

"Which means we'll have to walk the whole way," Wu pointed out.

"Ugh, I don't wanna walk," Cole groaned.

"We know," everyone, except Wu, said in unison to Cole.

"But I don't get it...why are the dragon's acting like this?" Jay asked as he brushed off the dust from his blue ninja suit and ruffled his hair to brush off the dust from Wisp's lighting attack.

"Well, from the looks of it, Flame is protecting something, and whatever it is must be very important if the other dragons are protecting Flame," Nya pointed out.

"We'll have to worry about that later, we're gonna lose to the Fangpyre if we're going to beat them to the junk yard," said Kai. With that, no one said a word and began to descend down the stairs that spiraled down the huge mountain. And Nya was surprised to see Wu was coming with them.

"You're coming too, Sensei?" asked Nya.

"Why yes, I am—because I have something that will even out the odds of us verses the Serpentine," Wu replied.

"And what's that?" Nya asked out of curiosity.

"Ah, you will see, Nya," Wu sighed.

"You're so formal, I mean, do all of your sentences begin with 'why' or 'ah'?" asked Nya. Wu chuckled for a moment and then his face went flat.

"No."


	9. Chapter 9 - It's a Fangpyre!

Chapter 9 – There's a Fangpyre in the junk yard!

The ninja, the girls, and Wu were traveling down a desolate road in the middle of the desert as the sun just barely began to rise for dawn.

"Anyone want to tell some stories to pass the time?" Kate asked, breaking the silence. No one replied as they looked at each other.

"I-I suppose I could tell a story from my past," Zane softly volunteered.

"Ok then, what'cha got?" asked Jay. Zane sighed before answering.

"Well, my story is about the memories of my life—or at least what small memories I have left. I don't recall my childhood, all I can grasp is me being the age I am now, and at that time, I remember waking up in a tree," Zane explained.

"A tree?" Kai asked slowly.

"As odd as it sounds, yes, a tree, but it was actually a home—and also a lab—in the disguise of a tree, and the tree was located in the forever freezing forest known as Birch Wood Forest. After I woke up there, I left the lab, left the tree, and walked and walked until I luckily came to a little village located in the cold north," Zane went on.

"And the lake from which I saved Zane from was in the village," Wu added.

"But, life there didn't make things better—people in the village would make fun of me, telling me I was…" Zane continued, but then his voice trailed off.

"You were what?" Cole pressed on.

"Inhuman," Zane was reluctant to reply. There was a moment of silence now.

"Guys look, there's a light off in the distance. Think it's a junk yard, and maybe thee junk yard Lloyd and the Fangpyre are headed for?" asked Cole.

"I hope it's not, because if that's the only speck of civilization in the middle of nowhere, it's definitely my parents' junk yard," Jay said with worry.

"Thanks for that very short story Jay, now let's go!" said Kate. The others began to pick up speed, but Jay and Nya were at the back of the pack, leaving Jay some private time with Nya.

"So, hey, Nya, we've known each other for a while-," Jay began, but Nya cut him off.

"Three days," Nya cut in.

"Um, yeah, so, I was wondering…" Jay began again, but talking to the girl he like made him get a bit choked up.

"Yeah?" asked Nya. Jay sighed in defeat that he couldn't talk to Nya.

"How's you're wound?" Jay asked sadly.

"Oh, it's fine—and Jay, if you like me, and you want to ask me out, that's fine. Of course I'll be your girlfriend," Nya replied. Jay's face would heat up at this.

"What, how'd you know—AHEM, I mean…" Jay said quickly.

"Kai told me everything," Nya said flatly.

"That brother of yours is a jerk," Jay complained.

"I know, and I couldn't agree more," Nya said, and with that, the two chuckled. Suddenly Jay and Nya both accidently walked up to Kai who had stopped walking and sized both of them up as he glared at the two. Nya and Jay's laughing slowly and awkwardly died down.

"Uh…" Nya merely said, while Jay tugged on the collar of his ninja suit. Kai scowled at them for another moment before sighing and looking away.

"You two are lucky Kate talked me into this before—so I'll let you off with a warning—and I'm talking to you Walker," Kai said softly yet harshly. With that, Kai turned and walked away, leaving Jay and Nya to themselves again.

"Yes, officer," Jay whispered, but loud enough for Nya to hear, so she giggled and that made Jay smirk. Nya and Jay then continued on as well, and caught up with the others.

* * *

Lloyd and the Fangpyre were in the same desert terrain as the ninja, but not in the same spot, though they were now looking at the same light source the ninja were heading for.

"That's it, this is the place—'Ed and Edna's Junk' is what I think it's called," Lloyd said to Fangtom.

"Hmm, ssssuch a very-ssstupid name-but asss long asss vee're-able to find ssssome-machinery-vee vill be pleassssed," Fangtom explained.

"Oh, don't worry, I saw plenty of gadgets when I passed by here," Lloyd said with a smirk.

"Good," both of Fangtom's heads whispered. It was silent as they continued towards the junk yard, but then Lloyd looked up at Fangtom confused.

"Hey, Fangtom, just out of curiosity—how did you get two heads?" asked Lloyd.

"Oh, that isss easssy-and thissss ssstory isss true-vhen a Fangpyre bitesss hissss own ssself-he growsss a ssssecond head," Fangtom replied. Lloyd's eye brow quirked as he took this in.

"Ok—that's kind of trippy," Lloyd said slowly, "and one more thing, what's the Fangpyre's special powers?" Lloyd continued.

"Vell, if vee are able-to sssink our teeth-into a human-our venom beginssss-to change them," said Fangtom.

"How?" Lloyd asked, but at the same time, they just got to the entrance of the junk yard.

"Tell you vhat-you sssseem very-eager to learn-sssso instead of-telling you-I'll show you-next time I sssee-another human-deal?" asked Fangtom.

"Alright, fine," Lloyd replied.

"But know thisss-Lloyd-vhen our venom-getsss in a-human'sss immune sssysssstem-they go through painful changessss-sssome that may be too painful-for you to witnessss," Fangtom warned. Lloyd didn't answer, he only walked into the junk yard.

The junk yard was in a large circular shape that was fenced in by an old tall wooden fence with barb wire, but there was still a large opening that wasn't gated. There were scraps, old and rusted machines and tires everywhere, and even a small trailer at the far end of the yard. Big bright white lights were surrounding the yard and small colorful plastic lights were strung up on the livable trailer. Lloyd or the Serpentine following him didn't pay mind to the trailer, all they did was evilly smile at their resources. The Fangpyre began to bare their two front long, white and thin fangs.

"Feed-my fellow Fangpyre!" Fangtom announced to his tribe. The Fangpyre all spread out through the piled up scraps of metal and machinery.

"Come Lloyd-let's look at our-veapons," Fangtom said as he placed a clawed hand on Lloyd's back and gently pushed him so Lloyd would follow him further into the junk yard.

"Weapons?" Lloyd asked with confusion. After the snakes disappeared into the garbage, an elderly man suddenly opened the trailer door and walked out.

The man had pale skin, grey hair, was about five feet tall, and wore dark green grease and oil stained trousers with a blue under shirt and big boots. The man's blue green eyes whipped around his junk yard with concern.

"Ed, what is it dear?" a soft woman's voice in a Canadian accent came from the trailer. The owner of the voice came from a woman that was a few inches shorter than the man, or Ed; she had brown hair in a bun, wore blue jeans, a big brown leather jacket that was fuzzy on the inside, a white shirt underneath and red scarf around her neck, and she also wore big brown boots as well. The woman had a few grey hairs as she walked to Ed, who was clearly her husband, and adjusted her glasses over her blue eyes as she approached Ed.

"Sorry Edna, I could've swore I heard something, eh," Ed said to his wife named Edna, he also had a Canadian accent.

"Oh Ed, you haven't been the same since our only son ran away—come inside and have some coffee to ease those nerves, eh," Edna said sadly. Ed sighed and followed his wife back into the trailer, and shut the door.

But little did the old married couple know the sound of the door shutting got the attention of a Fangpyre. The Fangpyre squinted his white eyes with black slit pupils and hissed as he whipped his red tail and flicked his black forked tongue.

* * *

At the gates of the junk yard, the ninja, Wu and the girls have just arrived.

"Oh, this is totally my parents place," Jay said with worry.

"Unfortunately, this place was in the same direction Lloyd and the Serpentine were headed," Zane added.

"But, come on Jay, what are the odds that brat would lead those snakes here? So I wouldn't be as worried," Cole said with a chuckle.

"Wait, hold on a second—if this is your parents' place, did that mean you were born in a junk yard?" Kai cut in and tried to hold in a snicker.

"My parents lived too far from a hospital, ok?!" Jay exclaimed angrily, causing everyone to laugh. Suddenly, everyone realized Nya wasn't in the group.

"Where's Nya?" asked Kai. Everyone looked around, until they heard knocking.

"Hello?" Nya's voice was heard from the direction of Ed and Edna's trailer. Turns out, Nya was at the trailer's door and was knocking at it. Everyone looked at Nya, but Jay looked like he was about to be sick.

"Oh no," Jay sighed. The door came open, and Ed and Edna smiled at Nya.

"Well, hello there, young lady, can we help you, eh?" Edna said from behind Ed.

"Well, actually my friends and I came here to-," Nya began with a smile, until Jay came in while running.

"Hey, mom, dad, long time, no see!" Jay cut in with enthusiasm but while putting on his best fake smile, and even stepping in front of Nya. "Run away," Jay whispered through seethed teeth.

"Say what?" Nya quickly whispered back.

"Jay, is that you?" Ed asked with a smile s he and Edna quickly stepped out of the trailer and up to Jay.

"Oh, yes it is! Ed, it's our baby boy, eh!" Edna said as she hugged Jay and practically crushing him and making him blush.

"Mom...choking...not breathing," Jay said in a hoarse voice.

Edna squeezed Jay one last hard time before letting him go, and then eyeing Nya.

"Oh, and is this your girlfriend?" Edna continued, but Jay was waving his hand in front of his neck to tell her to stop, but to no avail, "oh I can already tell she's a keeper, such nice looks and kindness, eh," Edna went on.

"Um, y-yeah, I-I guess you could say we're an item at the moment," Nya said meekly.

"Luckily," Kai's voice came in from behind. That's when Ed and Edna, obviously Jay's parents, noticed the others.

"You some of Jay's friends, eh?" asked Ed.

"Well, technically, we are more like his metaphorical brothers," Zane said softly.

"And metaphorical sister," Kate added while shooting Zane a glare.

"And I am his and his brothers' sensei; my name is Wu," Wu said and stepped forward, "I apologize for the intrusion, but we feared that you and your junk yard might have been in danger—a group of an ancient race and my nephew, who chose to follow a darker path, claimed they would be coming to a junk yard, and we wanted to make sure it wasn't yours."

"Well thank you for making sure we were safe, eh," Ed thanked them.

"And especially for bringing momma's boy back, eh!" Edna said as she began to ruffle up Jay's hair with her hand. The ninja, even Kate, Wu and Nya began to snicker at Jay. Jay instantly shot a death glare at them all and they stopped snickering and looked away to act as if nothing happened.

"I will admit, that was very easy to find humorous," Zane whispered.

Kate, and no one for that matter, didn't know that a red and black scaled Fangpyre tail was rising up fro behind her. And before anyone knew it, the tail whipped around Kate's head and gagged her mouth. Kate tried to pry the tail from her mouth, but to no avail, and the tail pulled her down onto her back. The THUD from Kate falling caught everyone's attention, but not before the long tail began to drag Kate into the dark corners in the junk piles, and she was gone.

"Looks like they did come here," Cole said as he grabbed out his Scythe of Quakes.

"Who, eh?" Ed and Edna both asked with a little fear.

"The Fangpyre!" Wu replied with firmness, "spread out and find her, the Serpentine are smart enough to find any good nook or cranny to hide in," Wu instructed.

Everyone went in different directions, but Jay looked at his worried parents.

"It's ok, you two stay here, I'll be fine," Jay reassured his parents as he took one of their in one of his hands. Jay let go and ran off into the dark junk piles.

* * *

Kate was still being dragged by the long tail until the owner of the tail, Fangtom, stopped when he slithered up to the fence. When Fangtom stopped, he flung Kate like a rag doll up against the fence. The impact made Kate breath hoarsely and cough. Kate tried to stand up, but just as Kate got meekly up on her feet, Fangtom used his long tail again and wrapped all around her, from her ankles to her shoulders, keeping her immobilized.

"You sssee, Lloyd-vee musssst keep our prey-immobilized-so that the venom-can eassssily flow through the immune sssysstem-vithout being rushed," Fangtom explained. That's when Lloyd came from the shadows and up to Fangtom.

"Why wouldn't you want your venom to move quickly, wouldn't it just make the process go quicker?" asked Lloyd.

"But that isss the problem-our venom isss different-and mussst-take itsss time," Fangtom replied.

Suddenly Lloyd looked at Kate again, and realized that's who Fangtom captured.

"Wait, you're going to bite her?" Lloyd asked with worry, "oh geez, that sounded so wrong," Lloyd continued under his breath.

"Vell, you vanted-to sssee the changesss-and now I-vill show you," Fangpyre explained, and bared his long fangs at Kate, and she cold tell they were inches from her face. Lloyd shook his head, and put his hand between Fangtom and Kate, stopping Fangtom from biting her.

"Wait, don't do this to her, let her go," Lloyd pleaded. This made Kate's eyes go wide and caused her to gasp.

"And vhy vould-I do that?" Fangtom asked as he flicked his back forked tongue at Lloyd. Lloyd was at a loss of words for a moment, but then he smirked.

"Because wouldn't you rather get good fighters, like my Uncle Wu, or the ninja on your side, instead of this stupid girl?" asked Lloyd. This made Fangtom's two heads look at each other, but then look at Kate as he slowly unraveled his tail from around Kate, causing her to fall to her knees.

"You are-very right," said Fangtom.

"Kate, where are you?! Are you back here?!" came Jay's voice that wasn't too far from where they were hiding.

"Hmm, perfect timing—ok Lloyd-I vill-let her go-but next time-I von't-let my prey get away," Fangtom said darkly, and slithered towards the direction of Jay's voice. Now Lloyd was left with Kate, Lloyd quickly went to Kate's aid and helped her up.

"I'm sorry...my name's Lloyd, by the way," Lloyd said quietly.

"Name's Kate, and one more thing," Kate said as she stood up and looked at Lloyd.

SLAP! Kate slapped Lloyd across the face, and glared at him.

"Um, ow!" Lloyd yelled at Kate.

"That was for setting them free, letting them capture me, and for calling me stupid," Kate said angrily.

Lloyd quirked an eye brow while still looking angry and lightly shaking his head. But suddenly Kate grabbed the collar of Lloyd's shirt and pulled him towards her so they locked lips. The kiss only lasted a mere few seconds until they broke apart. Lloyd was shocked while Kate just stared at him with a soft look.

"That's for—convincing him to let me go," Kate said softly, but with that she took out her bow and an arrow head. "This never happened, kepeesh?" Kate asked, getting serious again. Lloyd rapidly nodded, but Kate couldn't see, so she began to lose her patience again. "Kepeesh?!" Kate repeated louder.

"Ok, yes," Lloyd quickly replied. Kate soon began to speed walk away from Lloyd and kept her bow and arrow pointed down as she left Lloyd, and Lloyd watched her in awe. After Lloyd couldn't see her anymore, he shook his head and got angry.

"Stupid teenage hormones," Lloyd grumbled.

* * *

In the clearing of the junk yard where Ed and Edna stood, Kai, Cole, Zane and Nya ran back to the clearing.

"You guys couldn't find her either?" asked Cole.

"Negative," Nya replied.

"N'yet, and I just can't see how Jay had a happy child hood in this trash heap," said Kai.

"There was no sign of her that I could see," said Zane.

"So, you couldn't find her, huh?" Kate's voice came from behind everyone. Everyone turned and smiled to see Kate.

"Kate, you're alright. How'd you get away?" asked Nya.

"Well," Kate began as she looked away, looking for the right lie, "you should know by now I can protect myself," Kate said with a smirk.

"Touché," said Nya.

"But I think something is keeping Wu and Jay," Kate pointed out.

"Hey, she's right, where are they?" asked Cole. Suddenly a shriek of pain was heard from the left of them.

"My guess—that way," Kai simply said as he pointed finger in the shriek's direction.

"That sounded like Jay, eh," Ed said with worry.

"Oh, if it is, please make sure my boy is alright, eh," Edna pleaded with tears welling up in her eyes.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Walker; we'll make sure he fine," Kate said as the other three ninja began to run to the source of the sound, but Nya stayed.

"Actually Kate...why don't you stay here and look after these two? They could use the protection, and we wouldn't want you getting captured gain, ok?" said Nya.

"Ok," Kate sighed. Nya then left and caught up with the other ninja.

"Edna, if something were to happen, I want you to head for the helicopter I repaired and get away from here," Ed said firmly.

"Oh, Ed," Edna wept as she hugged Ed, and Ed held his wife. Kate watched sadly at Ed and Edna's embrace, and then she licked her lips. Little did they know, that hiding behind the trailer, that Fangtom's two headed second in command Fangpyre was watching and listening. The two heads looked at each other, and smiled evilly.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" the right head asked, and not in a vampire accent like Fangtom.

"Only if you're thinking about that crane with a wrecking ball I ssspotted," the left head replied.

"Ooh, a wrecking ball, even better, let'ssss go get the other Fangpyre and tell them what we've dissscovered," the right head said, with that, the two headed snake disappeared into the darkness of the junk piles.

* * *

Wu and the ninja and Nya ran into a big dark corner in the yard, al least it would be dark if one of the big lights surrounding the place wasn't shining down on the spot.

"I could've sworn I heard it from here," Kai said as no one moved and they waited. Their waiting paid off when Jay's helpless body was flung from a dark corner, but he was thrown towards Cole, so he crashed into to Cole and they both fell to the ground.

"Ouch, dang it Jay!" Cole snapped as he sat up and shoved Jay off of him.

"Oh, suck it up you two," Nya said angrily as she extended a hand to both of them, they took a hand and she pulled them up.

"Jay, what happened? We heard you shriek," said Wu.

"Yeah, like a girl," Kai added.

"I was just looking for Kate when a Fangpyre attacked me," Jay explained.

"As weird as it sounds—did he bite you?" asked Wu.

"Uh, n-no, h-he didn't," Jay stuttered. Suddenly there was the sound of Ed and Edna's shrieks. But before anyone could say anything, Kate came running in, and she panted before she could speak.

"Guys—we've got a problem," Kate breathed. Pretty soon, everyone was running back towards Ed and Edna's trailer, but they were shocked to see the old married couple wasn't alone.

There were two Fangpyre with Ed and Edna, and each had their tails wrapped around the couple's wrists, as if they were wearing hand cuffs. Kate grabbed her bow and two arrows, but before she loaded two arrows, she stared at them. At the same time, Lloyd was hiding and watching Kate and the others from a fare distance. Kate stopped looking at the two arrows and carefully loaded them into her bow, but not before the two Fangpyre holding Ed and Edna finally bit them on their wrists.

"No!" Jay cried in horror. The two snakes laughed at the two as they grunted in pain.

The veins in their neck, arms and even legs began to become visible as dark purple liquid would seep through the veins and travel throughout their bodies. Kate pulled back on the arrows and closed her eyes.

"You've never shot more than one arrow at once, but you've got to try, Kate," Kate said quietly to herself.

"C'mon Kate," Lloyd quietly cheered. Kate's eyes snapped open, and she shot the arrows right towards the Fangpyre and Ed and Edna's direction.

Lucky for them, Ed and Edna's wrists were tied together by the Fangpyre's tails and were held in front of their bodies. So when the arrow heads came flying towards them, each arrow struck the tip of the Fangpyre, causing them both to scream in pain, as their tails no longer had a grip on Ed and Edna, and the tips still wrapped around their wrists just barely held on, but they managed to brush the ail tips off.

"Mom, Dad, are you ok?" Jay asked with worry.

"We're fine, sss-sssson," Ed replied in a raspy voice.

The venom was acting fast, Ed and Edna's tongues have already turned into black forked snake tongues, and they flicked their new tongues like snakes.

"Their elderly bodies don't have strong immune systems, which means the venom will only travel faster through them!" Wu announced.

Suddenly loud creaking and scraping metal sounds were heard high up. They all turned to look up at a very big and old crane. The wrecking ball attached to the crane was large, and was put on top of a junk pile so it would swing down and hit anyone. But now there were a few Fangpyre atop the same junk pile and pushing on the giant wrecking ball so it would come off the pile.

Lloyd was still hiding and watching, until Fangtom slithered up to him from the shadows.

"Vhat are-you doing-you're going to vant-to move," Fangtom said, and grabbed Lloyd's arm in one of his clawed hands. Fangtom dragged Lloyd away from his hiding spot, and at the same time, the Fangpyre have just managed to push the wrecking ball from the pile and it was swinging from the crane's tall neck. The wrecking ball was able to swing until it crashed straight through a giant white light and many sparks flew, and the ball came swinging back into the yard. A Fangpyre had stepped into the cock pit of the crane and looked at the controls. And he bit the controls.

Being a machine and not having an immune system, the venom traveled a lot faster through the crane. In a matter of second, the controls of the crane changed into a vomit green color, and the color traveled up through the crane's neck and wrecking ball and also changed color. The Fangpyre grinned as he put his claws over the buttons and levers of the crane's controls. As soon as the color reached the wrecking ball, the Fangpyre took control of the machine. The snake pushed up on a lever and the crane's neck moved, and so did the wrecking ball. When the wrecking ball was swinging up, the snake pushed a button, but only when the wrecking ball was directly over the ninja and everyone else. So when he pushed the button, the ball dropped and was headed right for them.

"Now's the time to run!" Nya exclaimed and grabbed Kate and lead her away from where the wrecking was about to drop and sprinted while dragging Kate with her.

"Ninja-Go!" the four ninja exclaimed and did Spinjitzu. Thanks to their Spinjitzu, the ninja were able to escape before the wrecking ball came crashing down onto the ground.

"Wait, where's Sensei Wu?" Cole asked after he and the other stopped spinning. Wu was nowhere to be seen. But suddenly harmonic flute music began to play. Everyone was confused when they heard the flute.

"Uh, does anyone else hear a snake charmer's music?" asked Jay.

"Look, up there!" Zane exclaimed. Everyone followed Zane's gaze and saw that Wu was atop Ed and Edna's trailer, and was playing and oddly shaped and old looking flute.

"What's he doing?" asked Kai.

"Um, I know I can't see, but does anyone else notice that the Fangpyre have stopped attacking?" asked Kate. Kate was right. The wrecking ball had stopped swinging. Because the Fangpyre controlling the crane and clutched his ears with his claws as the music came from the flute, obviously he wasn't happy with the music Wu was playing.

"That's what he was talking about," Nya said as she smiled.

"What?" asked Jay.

"Don't you guys get it? That's a snake charmer's flute, but that's no ordinary flute; it must be different because it's specially made for Serpentine," Nya explained.

"Oh, well, yeah, I knew that," Kai lied, trying to sound smart. Suddenly a gust of wind began to build up, and the sand began to drift.

"Guys, look at the sand," said Cole. Everyone looked down, and then looked up in the direction the wind was coming from. But before anyone could move, a helicopter just suddenly rose up from the junk piles, obviously causing the wind and the sand to move. And as the helicopter became visible, the wind picked up harshly and blew sand everywhere. The helicopter looked weird, it was a vomit green color, just like the crane, and the nose of the helicopter had the face of a snake, and the chopper's tail was shaped like a scorpion tail and it coiled. Inside the helicopter, the entire small tribe of the Fangpyre were visible, and so was Lloyd. The Fangpyre controlling the crane ran up to the helicopter, and used its powerful bipedal legs to jump up high towards the chopper, and before he could fall, the Fangpyre aboard the aircraft grabbed him and helped him up. Kate and looked at each other sadly. Wu had stopped playing since the noise from the helicopter was too loud for his flute. The copter turned and flew off into the night.

"Next stop is my uncle's monastery, got it?!" Lloyd shouted at Fangtom over the sound of the copter's whirring blades.

"Yessss-Lloyd!" Fangtom said back.

Meanwhile, back on the ground, the wind had managed to push down the weakened Mr. and Mrs. Walker. Kate heard the THUD from when they fell and rushed to their aid.

"Mr. and Mrs. Walker, are you alright?" Kate asked with worry as she extended both her hands out to Ed and Edna. Ed and Edna's hand's have already become clawed and covered in dark green scales. Ed and Edna both grabbed Kate's hands with their clawed hands.

"Y-yesss, we're fine, eh," Edna said shakily. But as Kate held onto heir wrists and pulled them up, a light shown brightly between Kate's hand and their arms. Kate suddenly went stiff as her eyes went wide and her eyes began to sparkle again, but she still had Ed and Edna in her grasp. As the light grew brighter, everyone took notice of Kate and the Walkers.

"What is she doing to them?!" Jay exclaimed.

"Do not interfere!" Wu shouted and jumped down from the trailer.

Ed and Edna watched in awe as the dark purple veins slowly disappeared, and the scales that grew on their body faded away into their normal skin, and their forked tongues transformed back to their muscular red tongue again. Their clawed hands slowly became human hands again. Kate's mouth was agape and her eyes wide.

But suddenly, Kate's eyes rolled into the back of her head as she lost her grip on Ed and Edna and lot consciousness. No one was able to catch Kate as she landed on her back on the sand.

"Edna, I-I don't believe it, eh," Ed said with surprise as he gawked at his normal self.

"I know, it's like it never happened, eh," Edna said as she smiled big. Wu was narrowing his eyes as he was listening in on this.

"Cole, could you carry Kate, and her bow and quiver as well?" asked Wu.

"Sure," Cole replied. Cole walked up to Kate's body and removed her bow and quiver of arrows, and swung them over his shoulder. Soon after, Cole picked up Kate bridal style.

"Oh, thank you, son," Ed said to Jay.

"Yes—for being our greatest invention, and saving us," Edna said softly. Jay had to smile sweetly at this. Jay went and hugged his folks, and they hugged their son back of course. Once the Walkers ended the hug, they all began to leave the junk yard, and Ed and Edna waved good bye.

"You are quite a smart one, Nya," Wu said, as he walked up next to Nya.

"Huh?" Nya asked as she looked at Wu.

"You were right about the flute I brought on this journey," Wu said as he grabbed the flute from earlier, and handed it to Nya so she could look at it, "that flute was specially made for Serpentine, unlike other snake charmer flutes, this one is meant to hurt and drive back snakes, not attract them," Wu explained, and eventually Nya gave it back. Wu turned around and noticed Jay was behind the group walking slowly as he worriedly twiddled his thumbs.

"Why are you so worried, Jay?" Wu asked as he walked up to Jay.

"Uh, nothing—n-nothing at all," Jay stuttered. Wu quirked an eye brow.

"Did you lie when you said you were fine?" asked Wu. Jay's eyes widened.

"What?! How'd you know?!" Jay whispered harshly.

"Actually, I didn't until just now—but Jay, you are in deep trouble," said Wu, "and I'm afraid I don't know how to fix your problem," Wu sighed.

"Can't you just play that little magic flute of yours?" Jay asked worriedly.

"No, the flute does not work like that. It is a savior, not a miracle," Wu replied sadly.

"What'll I do?" Jay asked softly.

"For now—keep it hidden," Wu replied.

But back with the other three ninja, and Kate, Kate was still being carried by Cole as Kai and Zane walked beside him. Suddenly Kate hummed in her sleep as she nuzzled herself against Cole. Cole looked down with wide eyes at first, but then smiled.

"Aw, cute kid...almost as sweet as the cake I like to eat," Cole said softly.

"I can agree; she's had an impact on us, making us feel better, and righting our wrongs," said Zane.

"What do you mean?" asked Kai.

"I mean, if it wasn't for her—I wouldn't be alive anymore," Zane said as he frowned.

"Yeah, you're right, she reassured me telling me that Nya would be fine making her own decisions," Kai said as he looked back at Nya who was walking a few feet behind them.

"And though she can't see it—but she's something special," Cole said with a smile while continuing to look at Kate's sleeping body.


	10. Chapter 10 - Vandalized and betrayed

Chapter 10 – Vandalized and betrayed

By the time the walking group got back to the bottom of the mountain to climb up the stairs and up to the monastery, dawn had just began to crack over the horizon, but something was amiss. Everyone looked up expecting see fluffy white clouds above them, when instead the clouds were big and black like smoke.

"Oh no," Wu whispered with worry in his eyes. Everyone rushed up the stairs as fast as they could. When they reached the clouds, they squinted their eyes as they tears welled up in their eyes up and they began to cough.

"Guys-ACK...this is smoke!" Kai explained while coughing. When everyone finally got to the top, they were greeted by a horrible sight. The monastery was on fire, and in ruin; hardly any of it was left.

"Oh no, the dragons!" Jay exclaimed, and with that he rushed to get down the others stairs that lead towards the dragon stables.

When Jay got there, he could see flames inside the stables, and they were beginning to collapse. The dragons were inside rushing to get out. Jay tried to see what the dragons were doing since they were just getting out already, but the haze and the flames kept him from seeing clearly. But suddenly Flame, Shard, and Wisp came out and began to fly out of the stables, but then that left Rocky.

Rocky came bursting out from the stables, and he roared at Jay. As Rocky stood on the ledge, the roof of the stables gave way and a debris field was rushing towards them. Rocky noticed the debris cloud and quickly picked up Jay by the back of his suit with his jaws, but without hurting Jay, and ran and climbed up to the monastery where the others were, just before the debris clouds shot out at them. When Rocky was at the top, he put Jay down gently on his feet, but then he roared at him again.

"Yeah, thanks," Jay said sarcastically. Without warning, Shard flew up and breathed his ice breath over the flames, and soon the flames were out. Nothing but ruins, ashes and embers were left.

"Aw man, Lloyd and the Fangpyre must have played with matches around here while we were still walking back," Jay complained. Wu was most sad, he just stared at the destruction of his monastery.

"You alright, Sensei?" Kai asked.

"No," Wu sighed, "this was my father's, The First Spinjitzu Master's, monastery. And not only that—but also the home in which I grew up in," Wu explained sadly.

Suddenly, that's when Kate began to stir and gain consciousness. Cole noticed Kate was waking up, so he set her down gently on her feet. Once Kate opened her eyes and though she couldn't see it, she new something happened to the monastery.

"Oh no, what happened?" asked Kate.

"That brat, Lloyd, and the Fangpyre burned the monastery down," Cole replied. Kate took this in, and then her eyes widened.

"But what about Ed and Edna?" asked Kate.

"We are not sure how it happened, but somehow the affects of the Fangpyre venom in them was—reversed," Wu said as he walked up to Kate and handed her the bow and quiver of arrows. Kate put her bow over her shoulders and the quiver's strap over her back.

"But, we don't have a home now—what are we supposed to do?" Kai asked with a stern look. Kate looked guilty.

"This is all my fault," Kate said sadly.

"What? Kate, how is this your fault?" asked Nya.

"Because I encouraged Zane to follow the hawk, and then we found the Fangpyre, and if we hadn't we wouldn't have had to go and follow them, so we wouldn't have lost the monastery," Kate explained.

"But I would've lost my parents," Jay pointed out.

"And that's something that's hard to lose," Kai added.

"But I still can't see the damage I've caused! Do you know what that would make me look like? I'd look I wouldn't care, when I do!" Kate snapped as she began to well up with tears. Everyone was taken back by this and all was silent, except for the wind blowing in the ashes. Kate's face softened and she sighed.

"But what I can see is the misfortune of others," Kate said sadly as she turned away from everyone. "I even saw your future Zane," Kate admitted. Zane gasped.

"M-my future?" asked Zane. Kate finally turned back towards everyone and they saw her tear stained face and watery eyes.

"Which is why I stopped you from falling from that cliff, because it wasn't your time—and the only reason I knew that is because I saw the day of your death—I'm so sorry," Kate added. Zane's face was full of horror.

"I-I don't believe you!" Zane snapped, but Kate wasn't surprised.

"I know—believe me when I say you're not the only one that's said that to me—and that's why I lived alone, because I was just a warning light that no one would listen to," Kate explained sadly, and she turned and walked towards the stairs. Zane's face softened, but everyone looked at Kate wide eyed.

"Kate, where are you going?" Nya asked worriedly.

"Away," Kate replied, and then she pulled out an arrow and her bow, and she loaded her bow with the arrow and aimed back at everyone, "and don't follow me," Kate said as she walked down the stairs while keeping the arrow aimed at them. When Kate was no longer in sight, no one said a thing.

"Guys, what've we done—we've just lost an apple in our bushel," Jay said sadly, and everyone only exchanged sad looks at each other while still not saying a thing.

* * *

Dark winter clouds blew drastically cold winds over the tundra lands as the snake like helicopter Lloyd and the Fangpyre were riding in as it flew over to the familiar place where the Hypnobrai tomb was.

"Ok, so the next part of my plan is to raid the Hypnobrai!" Lloyd exclaimed as the helicopter landed just yards away from the open hole leading down to the Hypnobrai tomb.

"And jusssst vhy-vould vee do that?" Fangtom asked as he slithered out of the chopper and the blades slowed down and the engine was shut off. Lloyd and the rest of the small Fangpyre tribe hopped out of the air craft as well, and made their way to the tomb.

"Because I once had the Hypnobrai under my command, like I have you, but then they stabbed me in the back and betrayed me," Lloyd replied angrily. A random Fangpyre was listening to Lloyd and he gasped.

"They really sssstabbed you? Oh, you poor thing," the dimwitted Fangpyre said.

"Ugh, no, that was just a figure of speech," Lloyd said angrily at the Fangpyre. Fangtom leaned his two heads o Lloyd's ear.

"Now you know-how I feel-around thessssse goonssss," Fangtom whispered.

"Hey!" a crazed and childish voice shot out from inside the tomb, getting everyone's attention. That's when the new general of the Hypnobrai, Skales, slithered out of the tomb and with his golden general staff in hand. But unexpectedly, Skales smiled when he saw Fangtom before him.

"Fangtom, issss that you, old friend?" Skales asked with joy as he slithered up to Fangtom, and Fangtom smiled too.

"It'ssss been sso long-my old chum-and I ssssee-you are now leader," Fangtom said as he and Skales shared a quick friendly hug.

"What are you doing out here? And nice ride by the way," Skales said as he looked behind Fangtom and notice the helicopter.

"Oh, thanksss-vee call it-the Rattle-copter—and vee came here-under thissss boy'ssss-command-to destroy you-Hypnobrai," Fangtom replied. That's when Lloyd stepped out from behind Fangtom and was scared when he saw Skales.

"Oh, h-hi Skales," Lloyd whimpered while smiling a sheepish smile.

"You know him?" Fangtom asked Skales.

"Yesss, but only becausssse the child wasss able to take control of our old general, and that wasss a big misssstake, but lucky for the tribe, I beat Sssslithraa in a Sssslither Pit, and that'ssss when I told Lloyd to never come back here, but I guessss he couldn't keep his promisssse," Skales explained as he glared at Lloyd.

"Oh vell-I'm sssso sssorry-if I had known-my friend asss-a hatchling-vasss leader-of the tribe-I vouldn't have-lissstened to him," Fangtom explained.

"Wait, are you betraying me too?" Lloyd asked with worry. Fangtom's two heads looked at each other, and then glared back at Lloyd.

"Vee are," Fangtom hissed in reply. Lloyd turned and tried to run away, but a Fangpyre stuck out one of his bipedal legs to trip Lloyd. Lloyd tripped over the snake's leg and fell face first into the snow, but then he immediately struggled to get back up and ran off into the freezing arctic.

"Let him go. If we're lucky, he'll die of hypothermia," said Skales.

* * *

It was in the after noon as the ninja, Wu, Nya and the dragons were just chilling by a fire as a breeze swept over the empty mountain top. The dragons sat at one end, again the three dragons were guarding Flame as he sat curled up around something pressed up against his body and under his wing, and the others sat huddled up against the fire.

"I shouldn't have been so hard on her," Zane sighed.

"Yeah, I know, I mean it's not like the-always-quiet guy to just snap, especially at a little girl," Jay added.

"Wow, I'm sure you're a little ray of sunshine where ever you go," Cole said sarcastically.

"Kate is not someone to underestimate—she has a talent that she has not yet discovered," said Wu.

But as everyone was sulking, no one noticed the figure climbing up the stairs and headed towards them.

"I accept your apology," came Kate's voice. Everyone turned and gasped to see none other than Kate standing there and smiling at them. Everyone, except Wu, immediately stood and crowded Kate. Nya was first to give Kate a hug.

"Kate it's so good to have you back—and what made you come back, anyway?" Nya asked as she let go of Kate.

"Well, I came back for two reasons, one: you're, like, the only human friends I have that I can relate to, and second: I wanted to show you all a surprise," Kate replied.

"Ooh, is it cake?" Cole cut in with a big smile, "please be German chocolate, please be German chocolate," Cole prayed quietly. Kate chuckled.

"No, it's actually something that will get us back on our feet," said Kate.

* * *

The sun was still high in the sky when Kate was leading the others, and luckily the dragons followed as well, through a desert like terrain. Cole looked back at his dragon.

"Come on Rocky, are you still ignoring me?" asked Cole. Rocky only roared in reply. Cole turned back around and Kai was chuckling at him.

"Well, at least you know he was listening," Kai chuckled. Cole got angry, but then he looked at Kai's opposite side.

"Oh hey, what's that over there?" Cole asked quickly, making Kai look the other way. That gave Cole the chance to grab Kai's ninja mask and pull it up over his face, and of course, Kai didn't expect that. Kai said nothing as he put his mask back down revealing his angry face.

"Girls, girls, girls, you're both very pretty, so stop fighting over the same hair bow," said Nya, making everyone else laugh, except for Kai and Cole.

"They can pull each other's hair a much as they want because we're here," Kate said as they came up to a rocky platue. Everyone stopped and looked around in confusion.

"Um, unless the surprise is invisible, I'm going to pull your hair," said Jay. Kate rolled her eyes and pointed down below the platue.

"It's down there, geniuses," said Kate. Everyone followed Kate's finger and looked down to find an old abandoned pirate ship.

The ship had a mast with a sail still in good shape, a classic steering wheel at the helm, and at the bow was a dragon head made from wood. The ship also had a big enough cabin for shelter. Everyone looked back up at Kate with a smile.

"I thought maybe this could be our new home," Kate said softly.

"That's right kid, 'our' home—and that includes you," said Jay. This made Kate smile more. Everyone began to descend the platue to get to the ship, but Zane stopped Kate.

"Kate, was what you said to me true?" Zane asked sadly.

"Zane, I know it's a lot to take in, but you know my visions aren't wrong," Kate said softly.

"I know, that is what frightens me," said Zane.

"Zane, if I could, I would help, but you can't meddle with fate—but I will tell you this, that there was something good coming from your fate," said Kate.

"And what's that?" asked Zane.

"It's that no matter what will happen—you will never leave us," Kate said with a soft smile, making Zane smile too. It was quiet for a moment. "Now, you think you can cook dinner again, tonight?" Kate asked, breaking the silence.

"Of course I will," Zane chuckled, and with that they headed towards the ship.

Once Zane and Kate walked up the walk board to the ship, they gazed at it as they stood on the main deck like everyone else.

"Hmm, I think she needs a name," Cole pointed out.

"Yeah, what should we name it?" asked Nya. Zane and Kate looked at each other and smiled before looking back.

"How about—Destiny's Bounty?" asked Zane.

"I'm liking this idea," said Jay, "Destiny's Bounty," Jay repeated in a dramatic way, "it's got a nice dramatic affect to it," Jay continued.

"Well, let's hope Mouth of Lightning here can hotwire this thing to get us some electricity," said Cole.

"I am both offended and honored," said Jay.

"And I'll help," Nya said as she grabbed Jay's hand and intertwined their fingers. When Jay noticed this, he gripped Nya's hand harder as they smiled at each other. Cole looked at Jay and Nya's little moment, and then looked at Kai who was panting through clenched teeth and his eye was twitching.

"You gonna be ok, Kai?" asked Cole. But in the blink of an eye, Kai took out his Sword of Fire and just impaled the golden blade into the ship's deck. Kai closed his eyes and inhaled and then exhaled.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, why?" Kai said calmly as he opened his eyes.

"No reason," Cole said while shrugging.

"But what we are missing is the young miracle that came into our lives and has helped us along the way—we should be thankful to have Kate with us," Wu said calmly as he walked up to Kate and smiled at her, making her smile back at him.

"Yeah, too bad I don't have a gold star on me," Cole said with a smirk as he placed his hands on himself as if he were searching for something.

But as everyone chuckled and enjoyed themselves, they didn't notice Lloyd several yards away staring sadly at the ship they were on. After Lloyd gave up on sulking, he exhaled a soft sighed and closed his eyes. Lloyd shook his head as he turned himself and began walking across the sand.

Lloyd trudged through the sand, but then he shook his head and put on a serious face.

"C'mon Lloyd, you keep pulling yourself down you'll never find the next Serpentine tomb," Lloyd said to himself and he grabbed out the map and unrolled it. Lloyd looked at the fang shaped rock monument that looked to be in the same desert he was in on the map.

"Huh, that's weird, it's obviously a tomb if it's on this map, but how come it doesn't, I don't know, have, like, a symbol like the other tribes do?" Lloyd asked himself as he examined the picture with no symbol, just a fang shaped rock, "oh well—this must be a powerful and mysterious tribe then—awesome," Lloyd continued with a smirk.

Lloyd continued to walk under the conditions of the hot sun and sand. And he didn't notice the natural colored King Cobra snake he was walking just inches next to. The snake was obviously agitated by Lloyd, so it made a hissing noise and rose its hooded head from the sand. When Lloyd heard the hissing he looked around all confused.

"What the-?" Lloyd asked, but when he looked down, he was too shocked to finish speaking. The snake opened its hood and stared up at Lloyd and bobbed its head while flicking its black tongue and even baring its fangs a few times, and Lloyd stared wide eyed as if he were looking death in the eyes, and he practically was. The cobra bared its fangs again, but luck wasn't on its side today, because from behind it, an arrow head shot through the air and impaled the snake's head and went straight through its scales, and it instantly plopped down onto the sand, dead.

Lloyd's red eyes stared at the dead snake until his eyes shot up, and lo and behold, Kate was standing there and she looked as if she just shot an arrow, clearly she was just the one who killed the cobra. Kate glared as she walked up closer to Lloyd and put her bow back over her shoulders.

"Now, I know it's you, so what are you doing here?" Kate asked angrily. Lloyd put on a serious look again before answering.

"Shouldn't I ask you the same, I mean, aren't you supposed to be on that ship with your friends?" asked Lloyd.

"Nah, I lied to them, saying I wanted to take a walk, because I knew something was wrong, and then I run into you—now answer my question before I slap you again," said Kate.

"Yeah, but then you kissed me!" Lloyd protested. Kate scoffed.

"Can't a girl imply a thanks once in a while?" Kate asked, almost seductively.

"Whatever," Lloyd mumbled, "and I'm heading somewhere only important to me, not to you," Lloyd continued.

"Maybe not, but it's important to my friends—and especially your uncle," Kate said softly. This made Lloyd's eyes go wide a bit with anger.

"Don't speak to me about him!" Lloyd snapped, "my uncle is my dad's worst enemy, and always will be—and I respect my dad and his ways," Lloyd said in a softer tone. Lloyd turned away from Kate, but he didn't leave.

"Which is why I won't shoot you," Kate said, breaking the silence. Lloyd quirked an eye brown and turned to looked at her again.

"What?" asked Lloyd.

"I won't stop you—because I know you'll learn the hard way, and you'll come crawling back to us in the end," Kate said firmly, and then she leaned down to pick up the dead cobra and held it up for Lloyd to see, "and when you do, I'll put this under your pillow as a reminder," Kate continued, and with that she turned and walked back towards her and her friends' new boat home. Lloyd didn't say a word as he watched Kate leave. But after a moment of silence, Lloyd put on a smirk.

"She only came back because she thinks I'm a good kisser," Lloyd scoffed, and with that he continued on his journey to the next Serpentine tomb.

* * *

The sun was setting over the desert as the dragons were just relaxing on the sand around the ship, and everyone else was seated at a table, big enough for them all, in a small room that was placed on the highest deck of the ship.

Platters of French fries and cooked salmon were on the table as they ate, but mostly only scraps were left. But as everyone ate, Jay didn't as he placed his chin in his hand, and bounced his leg nervously. Nya was sitting next to Jay and was first to notice Jay's behavior.

"Um, are you ok?" asked Nya asked with a look of confusion. Jay was snapped out of his thoughts.

"Hmm?" Jay asked, "oh yeah, sure, I'm thin as a fiddle," Jay replied, but a little too quickly, making others give him questioning looks.

"Yeah, you may be a twig—next to Zane, no offense," Kai started, but then looked at Zane.

"None taken," Zane said softly.

"But I can tell you're not 'thin as a fiddle'," Kai said with air quotes. Jay was trying to act fast to think of something to say.

"Um, yeah well, on our way here, I got bit by this gigantic mosquito, and the bite is driving me crazy," Jay lied, and acted like his arm was itchy as he lightly scratched it.

Everyone murmured negatively about Jay to each other, and Jay looked worriedly at Wu, who gave him a single nod as a signal.

"U-uh, excuse me, I-I have to go," Jay stuttered as he stood and left the room, laving everyone, except for Wu, confused. But as everyone exchanged glances at each other, Kate stared sadly at Jay as he walked onto the deck.

After Jay got onto the main deck, he walked up to the ship's railing and leaned on it while looking down at the sand the ship sat upon. It was quiet for a moment, but the silence was not to last long.

"I'm going to help you," said a feminine voice. Jay turned and stared sadly at none other than Kate with his blue eyes.

"You can't help me," Jay sighed as he turned back around and Kate walked up next to him and joined him in leaning on the railing.

"Of course I can—if I can help Zane and Kai with their current problems, I can help you with yours," Kate protested softly, "and my first piece of advice for you is to not shut people out, because then you'll live a lonely life, like I did, which is why I help everyone—I don't want them making the same mistake I made," Kate explained softly.

"Hmm, as intimidating as that is, got anything else for me?" Jay asked, but not enthusiastically, for once.

"Yeah, wait here," Kate replied, and walked away from Jay to get something.

"I ain't got no choice," Jay sighed.

As Jay waited in the desert breeze and stared and the light brown and yellow sunset over the horizon, he reached his hand for his neck. Jay rubbed his hand on his neck, but that moved his ninja mask out of the way letting a Fangpyre bite in his neck become visible. The bite marks and the skin around it was becoming a sickening black color, and even a few stray green scales were forming on his neck.

Kate came back with a, literal, tall glass of water in her hand.

"See this? Now what do you see?" Kate asked as she held up the glass for Jay to see. Jay only stared in confusion at the glass of water.

"It's a glass of water, but how is that relevant?" asked Jay.

"Now, hold on, let me explain—you see, your mind is like the water, when you become agitated, things become rippled and unbalanced," Kate said as she lightly shook the glass, causing the water to ripple and wave around in the cup, "but when you allow it to settle," Kate continued as she sat the cup down gently on the railing, and the water began to settle, "everything becomes clear and still," Kate said softly.

"Meaning…?" Jay asked, obviously still not getting it.

Kate rolled her eyes, "Meaning, do not let stress and fear take you—that's your worst enemy right now, that was Kai and Zane's too—until they learned to calm themselves and let go," Kate explained, "the sooner you do that, the better," Kate continued.

Jay closed his eyes and breathed before smiling softly, and looking at Kate. Jay said nothing as he just grabbed Kate in a hug, which caught Kate by surprise at first, but then she smiled and hugged back.

"Thanks, Kate," Jay said softly, but then suddenly Jay's eyes widened and he broke the hug.

"Ooh, I hope no one ate off my plate," Jay said worriedly and rushed back to the dining room. Kate remained there and chuckled and shook her head at Jay. But Kate's smile went away when she heard soft thunder far off in the distance. Kate turned, and though she couldn't see, there were dark clouds starting to cover up the sunset.


	11. Chapter 11 - Frienemies

Chapter 11 – Frienemies

The night arrived when the storm arrived in the desert. Yes, a storm in the desert, very rare, but rain was pouring down and there were strong winds, thunder and even a little lightning.

Lloyd was caught in the storm as he had his flashlight out again, trying to push against the weather. Lloyd looked up and looked into the darkness around him.

"Where am I?!" Lloyd exclaimed. His question was soon answered when some lightning lit up the sky, and even a huge object ahead of Lloyd. Before him was the mere glimpse of the same fang shaped rock monument on the Serpentine tomb map. When Lloyd saw the monument, his face lit up.

"The tomb!" Lloyd exclaimed as he ran up to the rock. When he got to it, he arrived at another rock the fang rock was sitting on, and it was a big ancient door that lead into the tomb.

Above the door was a lit torch with wildly blowing flames due to the wind outside. Lloyd saw the handle and grabbed it, and had to pull hard a couple of times before the door budged outward. The door didn't really make any noises as Lloyd opened the door, and stared into dark nothingness inside. Lloyd aimed his flashlight inside the tomb as he walked in. The door was so heavy that it shut behind Lloyd just as he walked in, surprising Lloyd.

As Lloyd walked in, mysteriously, a torch on a large rock in the center of the large room lit up and brought some light, and then two more torches, one on each wall of the tomb, lit up as well, bringing more light. Lloyd's face cringed as the smell of decay hit him. But when Lloyd took a step forward to explore, he stepped on a hard object and it made a CRACK sound. Lloyd slowly looked down, and there below his feet was a carcass.

The carcass was shaped mostly like a human skeleton, but it had an elongated neck bone that was attached to a snake shaped skull. Lloyd gasped at the sight of a Serpentine skeleton.

But then Lloyd heard hissing, and he flashed his flashlight around in fear. And then Lloyd's flashlight landed on the sandy ground a few good feet away from him, and he noticed big snake tacks that were getting closer to him, but whoever the moving tracks belonged to, wasn't visible.

The tracks that were moving towards him caused Lloyd to shake and walk back in fear. But then suddenly the tracks stopped moving, and when they did, Lloyd stopped walking backwards and examined them. Lloyd took a few shaky steps towards the unnaturally large snake tracks. But suddenly, who ever the tracks belonged to then became visible and hissed loudly as he bared his fangs and claws at Lloyd. Lloyd didn't expect this, so he shrieked and stumbled onto his back. But unexpectedly, the room was then filled with laughter coming from the beast that just scared Lloyd. Lloyd examined him.

He was a Serpentine, and he had a tail, just like a tribe general, so he must be a general, his body was covered in violet covered scales, and had black and even a few yellow scale designs all down the back of his neck, torso, and tail. This was one huge snake though, he was larger than the other snake generals because he had an elongated neck, just like the Serpentine carcass Lloyd stepped on. He had a mid section shaped like a human's, just like the other generals, and he had long purple scaled arms with clawed hands covered in black scales. He had a snake head shaped like an Anaconda's, and two fairly large fangs. And he had glowing dark purple eyes with black slit pupils, and he had a diamond gem crest embedded atop his head, his tail was also pretty long.

"Oh, that never gets old," the purple snake said in a some what English accent, his voice sounded calm and charming, but still with traces of insanity, "ssssorry, I've just had no company in so many years, I just had to do that—oh, and where are my manners, my name is Pythor P. Chumsworth, and who might you be, my little appetiz-I mean friend," the snake, or Pythor, said, and spoke quickly to correct what he almost said, and unlike the other snakes, he didn't hold out on the letter 's' as much. Lloyd got up slowly as he stared at Pythor.

"Um, Lloyd—and why are you being so nice?" asked Lloyd.

"Must I repeat myself? I ssssaid I don't have any friends—it'sssss not my fault though, I never asked to be born an Anacondrai," said Pythor.

"Wait, your species' name is the 'Anacondrai'?" asked Lloyd.

"Yesss, and sadly, I am the last one—being locked away for so long made the tribe slip into starvation, insanity, and cannibalism," Pythor replied.

"Ooh, that's a bit harsh," Lloyd said grimly.

"Yes, I suppossse—but lucky for me, I was the tribe leader, and though I am at fault for losing my tribe, I was smart enough to survive—usssss Anacondrai may be the most big and feared, but that's only because we relied on brainsssss, not brawn," Pythor explained.

"Huh, that's cool, I guess, but it sucks that you're all that's left, I was trying to find a descent tribe to be, like, my snake army," Lloyd complained.

"Hmm, and why would you want such help?" asked Pythor.

"Because my dad, Lord Garmadon, is my idol, and I want to be like him, and plus, I want an army to get revenge on my uncle and his ninja team, and make them suffer too," Lloyd replied with an evil smile.

"Ooh, if there's anything I love more than making my enemies suffer, it'sssss to get revenge on them—if only I had feet, so I could click my heels with joy," Pythor said darkly with an evil grin.

"Hey, you seem like a promising guy, Pythor. How would you like to be my evil henchman?" asked Lloyd. Pythor thought as he tapped a claw to his chin, but then he smiled at Lloyd.

"Hmm, lucky for you, my schedule is alwaysssss free—I'd love to be your henchman," Pythor replied.

"Awesome," Lloyd said as he pumped a fist, "now, I think I already have a plan on how we can gain an army," Lloyd said and grabbed out the map and unrolled it for Pythor to see, "we can go to the last two tombs and let those tribes loose, but then they'll become our army," Lloyd explained, but he didn't notice as Pythor peeked over his shoulder and stared evilly at the map, and flicked his green tongue while putting on a big evil smile.

But Pythor frowned when Lloyd rolled up the parchment and put it away, but when he turned to look at Pythor, Pythor quickly put on a fake smile.

"Ssssssounds like a devious plan to me," said Pythor.

"But before we get into that serious stuff, I want to do a few fun things first," Lloyd cut in.

"Like what?" Pythor asked as his smile went away again and he looked a little confused, but that made Lloyd grin.

"Pythor, how long has it been since you've last eaten anything?" asked Lloyd.

* * *

Dawn crept over the horizon and onto Destiny's Bounty. Everyone was asleep, and the ninja all shared a room, and Kate and Nya shared a different room. There were two bunk beds in the boys' room, Kai and Zane shared a bunk, Kai on top and Zane took the bottom, and Jay and Cole shared the other, Cole took the bottom bunk while Jay took the top.

But suddenly Zane awoke from his slumber. Zane looked at his sleeping team, but then he groaned and clutched his head with a hand.

"I do not feel so well. Perhaps I should get some air," Zane said quietly and stood up from his bed and eventually tip toed onto the ship's deck to look outside.

But when Zane got there, he noticed he wasn't alone. Just standing with his back turned to Zane was a grown person about six feet tall, and he was wearing a suit, a ninja suit, that looked just like the other ninjas' suits, but instead, it was a different color, it was green.

"Um, excuse me, but who are you?" Zane asked as he walked out onto the deck and towards the green ninja. The ninja also had his mask up, so when he turned, all that was visible was blond eye brows and eyes with familiar red irises. When the person in green looked at Zane, Zane stopped a few feet in front of him.

"Can you not speak? A-are you mute?" asked Zane. The person didn't reply, he only blinked, but suddenly he reached out an arm horizontally, which confused Zane. But soon the hawk Kate and Zane followed appeared in the sky and flew down and perched onto the man's arm. But something was different about the hawk, instead of piercing yellow eyes, it had glowing blue eyes.

"The hawk," Zane said softly. Suddenly the background changed, it soon began to glow a bright white color. Zane tried to shield his eyes but while still looking at the green ninja and the hawk.

The hawk then opened its wings and fluttered off of the ninja's arm, and then suddenly the green ninja disintegrated. Zane was confused when the green ninja disappeared, but then he stared up at the hawk, and noticed the bird changed form. The hawk soon became the silhouette of a cross in the surrounding white light.

* * *

Zane screamed as he shot up, and he realized he was still in his bed in his team's room. It was all a dream. The ninja were awake and staring at Zane wide eyed.

"What?" asked Zane.

"Uh, it's just that you were mumbling in your sleep," Kai replied.

"Yeah, what kind of wacky dream were you having?" asked Jay.

"Well, it was certainly an unusual dream, but I will tell you all at breakfast," said Zane as he stood from his bed and adjusted his white colored pajamas, "and could someone be so kind as to clarify to me if this is or is not a dream?" asked Zane.

Without warning, Cole just flicked Zane, rather hard, on his forehead. Zane winced and put his hand on his head.

"Cole, that was very unnecessary," Zane said a little angry.

"I know, but do you think you're awake?" asked Cole.

"Yes, I know I am now," Zane replied.

"Well, there you go, now let's go to breakfast," Cole said quickly and left the room, along with Kai and Jay, but Zane stayed in the room. Zane took his hand from his head and sighed and then left the room as well.

* * *

The smell of bacon, eggs, and pancakes filled the dining room as they sat on the table and everyone was soon seated and began to eat.

"So Zane," Kai began before taking a big of a strip of bacon, "you were going to tell us about your dream," Kai continued, his voice a little muffled from the bacon in his mouth. Everyone looked at Zane, but continued to eat.

"It just started out as me waking up in our room, but then I felt odd and decided to go to the deck to get some air, but I wasn't alone on deck. There was a man there, dressed up just like a ninja, like us, but his mask was up, so I could not tell what his identity was. But what was most strange about him was that his suit was the color of green," Zane explained, but Wu's eyes went wide at what Zane said.

"A green ninja suit?!" Wu cut in, grabbing everyone's attention, "Zane, do you have any idea of who you have just encountered?" Wu asked softly.

"I'm afraid not," Zane replied. Wu stood from his seat.

"Ninja, there is someone very important that I have not told you about, and that is my fault—but Zane's dream was correct, he is a ninja dressed in a green color, and he is very unique—because he has control over all four of your elements: ice, earth, lightning, and fire, and he is known as the Green Ninja of Creation," Wu explained firmly. The ninja were stunned to hear this.

"Whoa," Cole breathed.

"Cool," Jay happily sighed.

"And, what, you think one of us is the Green Ninja?" asked Kai.

"That is hard to tell, but what I do know is that you four are very far from knowing if you can hold the title of such a ninja. First you must look and see the potential inside yourselves, only then will you know," Wu replied. Even Kate and Nya pondered this.

"But aside from that, when you four are finished eating, you will come onto the deck and do some Sunrise Stretches," Wu said, and walked out of the room with his staff.

"Who agrees that after Sunrise Stretches, we train to see who can be the best to hold the title of Green Ninja?" Cole whispered once Wu left. The other three boys smiled at this idea.

"Yeah, let's do it," Jay whispered. With that the boys left their breakfast and left the room, making Kate and Nya look at each other with disappointed looks.

"Oh brother," Kate said as she looked outside.

"Tell me about it," Nya sighed. But after a while, the ninja dressed into their ninja suits and walked onto the deck where their sensei was waiting.

"Ah, now that you are all ready," Wu said as he turned his back to the ninja, "Crouching Crab," Wu said as he put his hands out and made them look like crab claws, and squatted a bit and hunched over too. The boys copied Wu's stretching pose.

"This is stupid," Kai complained quietly.

"I heard that," Wu called.

"I thought old people had bad hearing," Jay whispered.

"Well, you thought wrong, Jay!" Wu called again.

"Guys, are you not getting the fact that he can hear everything we're saying?" Cole asked while quirking an eye brow.

"I would listen to Cole," Wu called once more. Kai got angry and got out of his stretch pose by accident, and glared at Cole as he put his hands on his hips.

"Oh, I see what you're doing, you're just trying to distract me and get me in trouble, so that you can look the best and be the Green Ninja," Kai said angrily. Suddenly Wu appeared by Kai and hit Kai on the head with his staff.

"Ow!" Kai cried as he rubbed his head.

"Kai, that looked more like an angry mother," said Wu, making the other boys smirk.

"Oh, so you think that is funny?" Wu asked when he noticed the others laughing. The boys immediately got out of their positions too and stopped snickering.

"Very well, if you think you all know so much, then perhaps you can figure out this riddle: how can you defeat your enemy?" asked Wu.

"Uh, weapons?" asked Cole.

"Fighting?" asked Kai.

"Precision?" asked Zane.

"Surprise parties?" Jay asked with a goofy smile, and made everyone, even Wu, look very confused at Jay. Wu shook his head.

"No, and since you answered incorrectly, each of you will only train, no T.V. or video games, just training—until you figure out the riddle," Wu said, and turned and walked away.

"What, but who knows how long that will take?" asked Kai. Wu turned to look at them.

"I don't know," Wu simply said, and turned and walked out of sight.

"Aw man, I don't want to spend too much time on some stupid question," Cole whined.

"Yeah I know, but sometimes I can be quite the philosopher, like if someone asks why, I think why not, and another thing, why is Monday so far from Friday, but why is Friday so close to Monday?" Jay babbled.

"I don't know how to respond to that," said Cole.

"I don't either, but I guess let's just train," Kai said as he walked over to a crate containing regular versions of the ninja's golden weapon.

There was a scythe with a long wooden handle and metal blade for Cole, nun chucks with silver chains for Jay, a regular sword for Kai, and a pair of iron shurikens for Zane. Kai grabbed out the shurikens and threw them so that they pierced the floor, but nearly striking Zane's feet. Cole walked up to Kai, and barely missed the blade of a scythe when Kai grabbed out the scythe and held it out. Cole glared at Kai but grabbed the scythe. Lastly, Kai grabbed out a sword and a pair of nun chucks. Kai threw Jay the nun chucks, and Jay caught them with success. But then Jay began to get too cocky and began twirling his nun chucks, but then he accidently hit himself in the head very hard with one end of the nun chucks.

"Hey, your head sounds hollow Jay—that explains your ignorance," Cole said with a smile.

"What's ignorance?" Jay asked.

"Exactly," Cole replied.

"I feel stupid having to train, because while we're stuck here, evil is out there just enjoying itself," Kai complained.

* * *

Off in a small western-like town in a location in the same desert far away, a man screamed in terror because he was running an ice cream cart that was being invaded. But the ones invading it were Pythor and Lloyd, as they were both holding ice cream cones with many colorful scoops of ice cream was stacked up and they licked at the ice cream.

"Oh, your idea of fun was a good one," Pythor said, and burped a bit, "ooh, excuse moi," Pythor mumbled.

"Yeah, but we still have the important plans of releasing the other Serpentine tribes," Lloyd said and took a lick from a strawberry scoop.

"But, of course," Pythor said darkly and continued to eat his ice cream.

But Lloyd didn't notice that Pythor snuck his long tail around the cart and behind Lloyd and reached behind him without Lloyd noticing his tail. Pythor used his tail to grab to rolled up map of the Serpentine tombs. Pythor brought the paper back around and he grinned at it.

"Important plans," Pythor repeated, and his black pupil slits in his purple eyes gave him a very intimidating and scary look in his eyes as they became almost as thin as a thread. Pythor lifted his tail so could grab the map in his claws.

"You know Lloyd, sometimes a henchman is underessssstimated," Pythor said darkly.

"What are you-?" Lloyd asked as he looked at Pythor, but he stopped when he saw the map in Pythor's claws. Lloyd took his free hand and felt around him looking for the map, but he realized that Pythor now had it. Pythor grinned at Lloyd, but then his smile went away as he dropped his ice cream on purpose.

"No, you do can't this, you said you'd be my henchman!" Lloyd pleaded, and accidently dropped his ice cream.

"Oh, but you never read the fine print: once I got what I wanted by tricking you, I'm gone," Pythor replied. And with that, Pythor turned invisible, obviously being his unique power like all the other snakes had powers. His scales just disappeared, and apparently whatever he touches disappears with him, because soon the map faded away too. Lloyd was left there in shock as Pythor's evil and soft chuckling filled the air. Lloyd looked down sadly.

"I'm sorry, Dad," Lloyd said to himself, and he suddenly turned and sprinted out of the town and into the big empty desert.

* * *

The sun was just beginning to set as Lloyd arrived in the parts where Destiny's Bounty was. When Lloyd was many yards away, Jay's dragon, Wisp, was first to notice Lloyd, so he turned invisible to keep Lloyd from seeing him. Lloyd continued to walk towards the ship, and saw Flame, Rocky, and Shard resting so he stayed away from them, but he didn't know he was walking right past Wisp. So after Lloyd did walk by the dragon's invisible form, Wisp opened his and growled quietly at Lloyd. Lloyd managed to walk up to the ship unnoticed, despite the fact that the ninja were in combat training with each other on deck, and Wu, Nya and Kate watched them from the highest deck. Suddenly Kate's purple eyes widened.

"Guys!" Kate shouted to the boys, making them stop training and look at Kate, "someone's here," said Kate. When Lloyd heard this, he got worried so he began to walk away from the ship, but he still didn't know he was walking right towards Wisp. But when Lloyd was just a few feet away from the invisible lightning dragon, Wisp made himself visible again and roared at Lloyd, catching Lloyd completely off guard. But that got everyone on Destiny's Bounty attention as they looked at Wisp and Lloyd.

"Lloyd?!" Kai exclaimed when he saw Lloyd. Lloyd gasped and turned to find he's been discovered, so he tried to run.

"Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon, come here right now!" Wu exclaimed to his nephew, but Lloyd didn't stop for no one.

"Get him, Wisp!" Jay called to his dragon. Wisp quickly stood up and barely even tried to catch Lloyd by pick Lloyd up by the hood of his hoody, blond bowl cut hair do, and Wisp carried the thrashing Lloyd over to the boat and dropped him onto the deck. Everyone looked at Lloyd, mostly angry. When Lloyd got up he gave everyone a sheepish smile.

"Uh, hi—haven't we met before?" Lloyd chuckled awkwardly. It was quiet, until Kate was first to make a move and grab Lloyd by the arm.

"Excuse us for a second," Kate said and pulled Lloyd with her as she took him into the ship's cabin. Everyone just watched as the two young ones walked away.

Once Kate dragged Lloyd into the dark halls she let go of his arm, and glared at him.

"What is wrong with you?!" Kate asked angrily.

"What are you talking about," Lloyd protested.

"You keep failing at trying to be evil, and then when you've had enough, you come here thinking we'd take you in? Man, you're lucky your uncle runs everything or else you might as well leave," Kate explained.

"You really think he'll let me stay?" asked Lloyd.

"Why else would you come here?" asked Kate.

"Fair point," Lloyd simply said. Kate put a hand on her head as she turned her back to Lloyd.

"Oh man, you're trouble," Kate sighed. Lloyd grinned at this though.

"And yet, you've taken a liking to me and proved it by kissing me," Lloyd pointed out. Kate's eyes instantly went wide and her hand dropped to her side.

Meanwhile, everyone was still waiting outside.

"Hey, you think Lloyd and Kate are an item?" Jay chuckled at Nya. Nya snickered and gave Jay a friendly punch.

"Shut up, Jay," Nya giggled.

"Did anyone know that the brat's middle name was 'Montgomery'?" asked Cole, and the other ninja only shook their heads.

Suddenly Lloyd's screams came from the ship's cabin, and the next thing everyone knew, Lloyd was being chased onto the deck by and angry Kate. Lloyd tried to run away from Kate, but she was too fast for him. So Kate jumped onto Lloyd and flipped him over. Everyone stared wide eye at this as Kate grabbed Lloyd's neck as she sat on top of him and throttled him.

"You will take that back if you don't want to be decapitated!" Kate exclaimed while continuing to strangle Lloyd.

It took Kai and Cole to pry Kate off of Lloyd and Lloyd was gasping for air as he meekly stood up.

"Whoa, kid, what was that about?" asked Cole. Lloyd backed up a bit, only to bump into his Uncle Wu, and Wu stared down at Lloyd with a quirked eye brow.

"Uh, h-hi uncle," Lloyd said sheepishly.

"Now I am going to discipline you, but not like Kate," said Wu. Without questioning, Lloyd followed Wu into the cabin as he hung his head in shame. Once Kate calmed down, Kai and Cole let go of Kate.

"Would you mind explaining to us about why you were trying rip Lloyd's head off?" asked Jay.

"Lloyd keeps bringing up the fact that I kissed him, and says that I like him, when I don't," Kate replied as everyone gasped.

But then Kate's eyes went wide when she realized she just spilled the beans.

"Aw, fudge," Kate said under her breath.

"You kissed Lloyd?" Zane asked, rather softly.

"Yes, but only because he freed me when I was captured by the Fangpyre at the junk yard, and I was only thanking him!" Kate admitted.

"Yeah, sounds like you sure gave him a hell of a thank you," Kai said with crossed arms.

"Guys, come on, don't be mad or surprised at her—ok, well, be surprised, but don't be mad, I think her and Lloyd being together is cute," Nya protested.

"What?!" Kate exclaimed. But suddenly the conversation was interrupted when Wu and Lloyd walked back onto the deck, everyone went quiet and looked at Wu and his nephew.

"I have explained to Lloyd that though he didn't know his parents, I did, and I told him that neither of them would want him to follow the dark path he tried to go down," Wu explained firmly.

"So, in other words, the kid's living with us now?" asked Jay.

"Precisely," Wu replied.

"Alright, fine, but I'm not babysitting," Cole cut in.

"And boys, you do not have to train for the whole day anymore, because you can let Lloyd be the example of the answer to my riddle: keep your friends close, and your enemies closer—but Lloyd is no longer our enemy, so treat him like it—now, come, let's get dinner ready," Wu explained, and the adults began to leave, but Lloyd and Kate just stood there awkwardly.

"You throttle like a girl, by the way," Lloyd said, breaking the silence. Kate squinted her eyes angrily at Lloyd.

"I take it back," Lloyd quickly said.

"Yeah whatever—could you tell the others I won't be coming to dinner?" Kate asked as she walked over to the ship's walk board and walked off the ship.

"Why, where you going?" Lloyd asked as he followed her. Kate only pointed at the dragons.

"Ever since we were living at the monastery—well, until you burned it down—the dragons have been acting weird. Rocky, Wisp, and Shard won't let us go near Flame because obviously, Flame's got something pretty special under his wing, and I've been watching the dragon's to see if I could find out what it is—the dragons won't even give us a ride anymore," Kate explained.

"Well, have you ever considered the fact that maybe one of the dragons is a girl?" asked Lloyd.

"What are you implying?" asked Kate.

"I mean, what if they're just trying to protect a dragon egg of theirs," Lloyd replied with a shrug.

"I don't know about all that," Kate said grimly. Kate and Lloyd began to walk towards the dragons. And then Lloyd looked over at Kate, and she noticed.

"What?" asked Kate.

"Why do you have sparkly eyes?" asked Lloyd.

"Long story, short: I was born with these eyes, and I'm blind, but they also came with a special power to see the future, but I don't have any say over it," Kate sighed.

But suddenly, one of Rocky's front powerful legs stepped in front of the two before they could get any closer to Flame. "Forbidden Friendship" by London Music Works began to play. Rocky growled at Kate, but then she grabbed Rocky's muzzle in a hug.

"Please let us see, Rocky, you can trust us," Kate said softly as she lifted her head to look into Rocky's green eyes, and she grabbed Lloyd's hand, and Lloyd looked down at Kate holding his hand rather surprised. Rocky exhaled and laid down as Kate let go of his snout. Kate looked at Lloyd before they walked closer to Flame, Wisp and Shard. Shard was first to get up and walk up to Lloyd and Kate to block their path. Kate put her hand gently on Shard's snout.

"Here," Kate said as she put Lloyd's hand on Shard's nose and removed hers. With the touch of Lloyd's hand, Shard closed his eyes and made a low growl noise that sounded like a purr.

"Wow," Lloyd breathed as he smiled at Shard. Suddenly Shard used his icy wings to push Kate gently over to Lloyd. But Kate tripped and caused Lloyd to fall with her, resulting in Lloyd landing on top of her, and Shard only chirped at them.

"You have two seconds to get off me," Kate said harshly. Lloyd struggled to get off of Kate, but their legs were tangled up. So Shard had to come in and pick up Lloyd by his hood and lift him off of Kate, and then gently put Lloyd down on his feet. Lloyd offered a hand to help Kate up, but she slapped it away and got herself up. Kate pushed passed Lloyd and continued to Flame and Wisp.

"Women," Lloyd sighed and followed Kate, and Shard heard Lloyd, so he huffed in response. Kate and Lloyd stopped when they got to Wisp, who stared at them and then looked at Flame and roared at Flame. Flame roared back in reply. Wisp looked back at Kate and Lloyd and walked behind them and began to gently push them both towards Flame. Once Wisp stopped pushing them, they were only a foot or two away from Flame. Flame exhaled some smoke through his nostrils, and he lifted his wing so they could see what he was curled up around. Lloyd and Kate's eyes widened when they saw two football sized dragon eggs.

One egg glimmered a dark pink color, while the other one glimmered two colors, green with hints of gold.

"Whoa, you were right," Kate sighed as she stared awe struck at the eggs.

"And you weren't," said Lloyd.

"Don't ruin the moment," Kate said while not looking away from the eggs.

Suddenly, both eggs began to stir, and cracking noises were heard from them. Flame noticed the eggs were moving and stood up and left the eggs fully exposed, but he, or she, still watched the eggs as the other dragons gathered around to watch. Suddenly a little scaly green wing covered in some tawny egg liquid popped out the side of the green egg, and a brown tail, also covered in liquids, with a tuft of brown fur at the end, popped out from one end of the pink egg. Kate suddenly hugged Lloyd in excitement, but Lloyd ignored it. It took a few moments as the eggs wobble and shook more and more before the baby dragons could fully come out of the egg. Suddenly, both eggs cracked entirely, and sooner did a baby dragon emerge from each egg.

The dragon from the green and golden outlined egg was a dragon covered in dark and light green scales, walked on four tiny legs and had two green scaled wings on its back, and had a fairly long green tail that ended in point, of course, and had a pair of beautifully green shimmering horns atop its cute head. The green baby dragon looked at everyone with big, cute, cheery, yellow eyes.

The dragon from the dark pink egg was the same size as its sibling, a house cat, and it was covered in brown scales, walked on two legs, and unlike any of the other dragons, it had six little brown scaled wings, three on each side, and had a set of nice horns atop its head, and had dragon eyes but in the same color of Kate's eyes, a sparkling purple color, and of course, also had its long enough tail with brown fur at the tip.

Both the baby dragons tried to walk but stumbled and let out tiny and playful growls. When the green dragon and brown dragon saw Kate and Lloyd, they looked at them with curiosity, and walked cautiously towards them. The brown scaled dragon walked towards Kate, while the green one walked up to Lloyd. Both Kate and Lloyd carefully sate down on the ground. And the dragons walked up to them and began to climb onto them and nuzzled their hands. Kate and Lloyd got the message, and began to gently pet the baby dragons' heads. Kate's dragon began to flutter her six tiny wings.

"This is so cool—what are you gonna name it?" Lloyd asked as he picked up the baby green dragon and cradled it.

"Well, I'm sensing this one's a girl, and I like the name Hope," Kate replied as she picked up and cradled the little dragon, or now called Hope.

"Yeah?" asked Lloyd.

"Yeah, she shows people hope when a disaster like you is around," Kate joked.

"Funny, real funny," Lloyd said sarcastically, "but what am I gonna name this little guy?" asked Lloyd as he looked down at his little green dragon.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that one's a boy," said Kate.

"Hmm," Lloyd thought, "how 'bout Titan?" asked Lloyd. The green dragon growled and chirped while looking up at Lloyd when he heard his name.

"Ok, I will admit, that is a cool name," Kate sighed, but with a smile. Lloyd and Kate stood up while still holding Titan and Hope.

"Think Momma Flame will let us take the baby dragon's inside and let them live on the ship until they're big enough?" asked Lloyd.

"I don't know, remember we'd still have to get your uncle's permission," Kate replied.


	12. Chapter 12 - What's the plan?

Chapter 12 – What's the plan?

The sun rose over the horizon, but everyone on Destiny's bounty was still asleep. Since Lloyd moved in, there was another separate bed built for him in the ninjas' room.

Titan, who has now grown to about the size of a Boxer dog, was sleeping on top of Lloyd's sleeping body, all curled up. But then Titan began to stir, and so he lifted his head and yawned and opened his big curious eyes. And then he heard Jay mumbling in his sleep and looked wide eyed at Jay's bunk. Titan stood up, but Lloyd didn't wake up, and he opened his green scaled wings and looked at them. Titan fluttered his wings, before he flapped his wings as best he could and jumped off of Lloyd's bed and up towards Jay's bed. But Titan was a baby dragon, so he stumbled in flight. Luckily, Titan was able to fly the few feet, without awakening anyone, and was able to grab onto the wood railing of Jay's bunk.

Titan pulled himself up, and onto Jay's blankets. Jay's back was turned to Titan, so Titan carefully jumped over Jay's body and stared at his face.

"No—no, Nya—don't come near me," Jay mumbled in his sleep as he waved a hand. Once Jay's hand plopped back down, Titan cocked his head a few times. Titan walked closer to Jay, until their faces were just inches away from each other. Suddenly, Jay smiled in his sleep, and lifted his arm up and over Titan.

"Ok—just one kiss," Jay mumbled and used his arm to pull Titan closer to his face. Not knowing it was a baby dragon, Jay pulled Titan close to him so that he accidently kissed Titan's muzzle. Titan got angry and confused, so he shook his head and broke the kiss. Jay's face looked confused as he searched around for Titan with his hand. But Jay didn't know Titan opened his mouth and a green light was building up in the back of his throat, and he was aiming at Jay.

Jay began to open his eyes and wake up, only to face Titan and the glowing light in his mouth.

"Aw, man," Jay sighed. The next thing anyone knew, Jay's girlish shrieks filled the room as a green light emitted from his bunk. The boys began to stir from Jay's screams, and Lloyd was the first to turn and face Jay who was standing right next to his bed.

Jay's blue pajama shirt was a little burnt, but not as burnt as his face, and his hair was smoking and sticking up with black singe marks. Jay held out his arm horizontally because Titan was hanging off of his arm upside down like a sloth. Lloyd's tired eyes stared into Jay's tired and disappointed eyes.

"Lloyd, this is the fifth time this week he's injured me in my sleep," Jay said tiredly. Suddenly, Titan lifted his head to look at Jay's hand, and bit his hand.

"Mother-!" Jay cursed as he shook his arm, causing Titan to slip and fall onto Lloyd.

"Uh, sorry Jay," Lloyd said as he sat up and placed his feet on the floor.

"Yeah, tell that to my hand and my hair," Jay said angrily, and walked away.

"I don't get brunettes," Lloyd whispered to Titan, and Titan only growled in response.

* * *

Everyone was at breakfast, eating breakfast sandwiches, but Lloyd and Kate were just eating bowls of cereal. Titan sat on the floor next to Lloyd, begging for food, while Kate's baby dragon, Hope, who has also grown, sat curled over her shoulders, like a snake. Kate looked at a breakfast sandwich, sitting on a platter in the middle, that no one touched yet. So she quickly lifted the piece of bread and grabbed a piece of egg, and fed it to Hope.

"Now Lloyd, I am to understand that Titan keeps causing trouble for the ninja," Wu began, breaking the silence.

"No kidding," Jay cut in.

"And I won't have that for my students, so, and this goes for you too Kate, I want you to train these infant dragons," Wu continued. Kate smiled and turned to look at Hope.

"Nice," Kate said happily. Suddenly, Titan growled, and jumped up from the floor and onto the table, crashing into everyone's food, and making a terrible mess.

This also resulted in an egg sandwich landing, egg first, onto Kai's face. Kai glared at nothing in particular as the sandwich slid off his face, but left egg on his face. Kai kept his angry look as he slowly turned his head and looked at Lloyd, who was sitting right beside him.

"Uh—training begins now, come on, Titan!" Lloyd said and scurried out of his seat. But Titan was about to take a bite out of some food, when Lloyd grabbed him, and Titan didn't get one bite.

As Kate stood to follow Lloyd out of the dining room, Hope flapped her six wings a single time and jumped off of Kate and stumbled onto the floor, and walked the rest of the way.

"Now I wish I didn't throw my apron away," Zane sighed as he looked down at his ninja suit that was covered in stains.

"Consider this a break day for you all, and you too Nya—but I am taking one of the dragons into Ninjago City—I have something important to pick up there," Wu explained as he stood from his seat, and luckily wasn't covered in food stains.

Wu left the room with his staff, walked out onto the deck and off the ship and walked up to the four dragons. But Lloyd and Kate were out on the desert sand and noticed Wu.

"Where you going, Wu?" Kate called to Wu.

"I must go to Ninjago city to pick up an important item, and I will need a dragon's help to get there," Wu explained, as he walked up to Wisp, and as Wisp looked down at the old man, Wu petted his snout. And Wisp lowered his head, and Wu mounted.

"See you kids later!" Wu shouted as Wisp began to flap his large feathered wings and had lift off, and flew off into the sky.

"I can't wait until Titan can fly like that, then I can ride him through the skies," Lloyd said in awe.

"Well, I haven't seen the movies, but I know dragon training will be a lot of fun," said Kate. Suddenly Titan and Hope, being siblings, started to playfully tackle and growl at each other. Titan tried to breathe some green colored flames again and shot it at Hope, but she dodged it.

"Has he always had green breath?" asked Kate.

"Yup," Lloyd simply replied, "and I bet I've seen more movies than you, and if there was one thing I learned while watching a dragon movie, it's that a dragon will only hatch if it senses it's master is there," Lloyd explained as he went to pick up Titan and broke the fight.

"Wow, you're a real dragon nerd, aren't you?" Kate asked as she went up to Hope.

"Shut up," Lloyd sighed.

"Make me," Kate protested.

"Oh, I'd be glad to," Lloyd said darkly as he looked at Kate with a smirk.

"You know, sometimes I really don't like you," Kate said grimly. Lloyd rolled his eyes as Kate, and she still had her bow and quiver of arrows, got out her bow and an arrow.

"If there's anything a baby animal likes to do, it's fetch," said Kate.

"Your point?" asked Lloyd, as he put Titan down on the sand.

"This test I just came up with contains practice on flight speed, accuracy, and retrieving: I shoot an arrow as far as I can, and the dragons have to fly as fast as they can after it. They have to be able to grab it in mid air, and then bring it back," Kate explained.

"Ok, but how are we going to get the dragons to want to go after it?" Lloyd asked, as Titan clumsily flew up and perched on top of Lloyd's head. Kate thought, and then she smile evilly.

"We could put Jay's head on this arrow?" Kate replied.

"Um, no," Lloyd replied with wide eyes.

"You're so gullible. We can just tease the dragons, watch," Kate said and took the arrow and waved it in front of Titan's face.

"You want it, you want it?" Kate teased, and Titan tried to clamp his jaws down onto the arrow, but Kate took it away, and then waved it in front of Hope.

"How 'bout you, you want the arrow head?" Kate teased Hope, and Hope tried to get the arrow too, until Kate took it away and loaded her bow with it. Kate quickly aimed the arrow at a high angle.

"Then, fetch the stick!" Kate exclaimed and let the arrow fly. The whole time Hope and Titan kept their eyes on the arrow, and when Kate shot it, Hope flapped her six wings, and took off like a rocket, and so did Titan, but since he was on Lloyd's head, Lloyd fell back from Titan jumping off of him so fast. Titan also pumped his wings, and flew like a bullet behind Hope. Kate walked up to Lloyd and stared down at him with a smirk.

"Guess I was wrong, you don't have dragon smarts," Kate said as she offered a hand to Lloyd, and Lloyd glared at her as he took her hand and stood back up.

Meanwhile, Hope and Titan were flying at great speeds, and the arrow was still flying high, but ahead of them. The arrow began to descend as it traveled a few more yards, so Hope and Titan began to dive after it. But as the two dove after the arrow, a golden glow surrounded Titan, while a light pink glow surrounded Hope. The lights began to shine so bright, the dragons just became gold and pink silhouettes. But then those silhouettes would grow bigger and bigger, until they were the same size as the ninjas' four dragons. When the glow went away, both dragons were full grown, like the other dragons, and they still looked the same as they did as baby dragons, but they were just more bigger and epic looking. The dragons broke in mid-air and hovered as they stared at themselves and at each other. Titan let out a roar, a very loud and victorious roar. Hope roared at Titan, and then they looked back down, only to find the arrow was no longer in the air. But suddenly Hope and Titan looked off at the horizon ahead of them, and bared their now large and sharps fangs, and growled. Hope and Titan looked at each other, and Hope huffed at Titan, and then Titan flew back towards Destiny's Bounty and where Kate and Lloyd would be waiting. But Hope only stayed and hovered and didn't follow her brother, Titan.

Meanwhile, Kate and Lloyd were sitting on the ground waiting for Titan and Hope.

"Dang, I knew you were good at archery, but not this good—I mean, how far did you shoot that arrow?" asked Lloyd.

"A professional archer, like me, knows not to share her secrets," Kate replied. Lloyd huffed in anger. But then Kate shielded her eyes when she looked up at the sun's rays because she was seeing a strange shadow.

"What the heck is that?" Kate asked, making Lloyd look too, and he was confused. As the shadow got closer, Lloyd and Kate stood up. The shadow soon became clearer, and the kids saw that it was Titan.

"Is that Titan?" asked Kate.

"There's no way, he's not that big," Lloyd replied.

"Maybe dragon's have big growth spurts," Kate guessed. Just when Titan was yards above the ground, he outstretched his wings so he'd slow down. But Kate and Lloyd didn't expect Titan to swoop down and grab them both in his front claws, carrying them off back to where Hope would be.

Lloyd and Kate screamed and struggled to grip onto Titan's claws, fearing that they would fall. After many scary moments of flying high and fast, Titan finally reached Hope, and he gently placed Kate on the back of Hope's neck. Kate slowly sat up and grabbed onto the horns on the back of Hope's head. And Titan lowered his head as he lifted Lloyd up to his neck and placed the boy on him. Lloyd did what Kate did, and grabbed onto Titan's horns. When the kids were on the backs of their dragons, the dragons flew father out over the desert.

"Where are they taking us?!" Lloyd exclaimed.

"I don't know, but this is epic!" Kate replied and hollered with joy. Soon Lloyd was smiling big and laughing as he rode Titan through the skies.

* * *

The ninja were still at the boat and were just relaxing, but jay was staring at an old door no one bothered to open in the ship's halls. And then Nya walked up to Jay.

"Hey Jay, what are you looking at?" Nya asked enthusiastically.

"I'm looking at this door 'cause I'm wondering what's behind it," Jay replied as he placed a finger on his chin.

"Then, why don't you open it?" asked Nya.

"Good idea," Jay quickly said and placed his hand on the door knob. It wasn't hard for Jay to turn the knob with ease and push the door open. Nya watched in wonder as they entered a dark room. The light from the halls entered the room as the door opened all the way. When there was enough light, what was in the room amazed Jay, making his face light up.

There was a giant flat computer monitor that was fifty five inches big hanging on the wall, and many wires hooked up to it traveled down to a giant metal box with many button on it, so it was the monitor's key board and access table.

"O.M.G.! I should've opened that door sooner, so much technology to tinker with!" Jay exclaimed happily as he practically hopped and skipped up to the computer.

"Ooh, if I can make this puppy work, she can be like our scout that let's us know of any trouble in all of Ninjago," Jay said as he gently placed his hands on the computer.

"Hey Jay, I heard yelling, what are you-whoa," Kai asked as he walked up to the door, but when he looked in and saw the computer, he was speechless.

"Look at this thing Kai, isn't it really cool?" Nya asked cheerfully.

"I guess it is, but you two can tinker with it—I'm not the kind of guy who knows how to plug the do-hickey into the what'cha-mi-call-it to make the thingy go ding," Kai explained. Afterwards, Kai left the room, and Jay and Nya stayed.

* * *

Titan and Hope carried Kate and Lloyd over the desert, but they arrived at a familiar place. They were flying over the fang shaped rock monument that was Pythor's tomb.

"Aw man, this was the Anacondrai's tomb," Lloyd said as Titan and Hope landed in front of the tomb, and Kate and Lloyd dismounted their dragons.

"Anacondrai?" asked Kate.

"Yeah, it was a Serpentine tribe that was clever and could turn invisible—but the whole tribe died, well, except for Pythor," Lloyd replied.

"Who's Pythor?" Kate asked as she and Lloyd stared at the fang shaped rock.

"He was the tribe leader, and the only one of the tribe that survived," Lloyd replied, and then sighed, "and he tricked me when he told me he would be my evil henchman, but he tricked me so that he could get the map of all of the hidden Serpentine tombs," Lloyd explained.

"Which would mean that's Lloyd's epic fail number three," said Kate.

"Whatever, the dragons obviously wanted to show us something here, so let's go," Lloyd said as he walked towards the tomb, and Kate followed.

The door to the tomb was open, and torches were lit inside the tomb as the two walked in, but no one, but them, were there.

"If I could see, I know this place would be dark and full of dead carcasses," said Kate.

"Lucky guess," Lloyd simply said, but then Lloyd looked at a wall with a giant picture drawn in white chalk.

"Whoa, look at this," Lloyd said as he grabbed Kate's arm and pulled her over to the wall.

There was a lit torch above the picture, so it made it easy to see in the dark cavern. The picture looked exactly like the land marks and environments on the map of the Serpentine tombs. There were two circles with arrows pointing at them on the map in two places, one looked like a foggy bog, and the other was a mountain.

"What ever it is, is a big 'uh-oh', isn't it?" asked Kate.

"Definitely, Pythor is planning on going to the last two Serpentine tombs—but I don't get why," Lloyd replied.

"You think he's going to let the tribes loose, like you did?" asked Kate.

"I don't know, but what ever the reason, we need to get back to the ninja and warn them, fast," said Lloyd, and with that Kate and Lloyd rushed out of the cavern and back to Titan and Hope. Once they were mounted, Titan and Hope took off, and headed in the direction leading back towards Destiny's Bounty.

* * *

Wu was in a building, filled with many clothes, and outside the windows were other buildings and cars driving by on a road. Wu looked at the hundreds upon hundreds sets of clothes surrounding him. But Wu didn't notice a young lady with tan skin, long black hear, green eyes, wore a white tank top and khaki jean shorts, and blue flip-flops. She was sitting at a sewing machine, hand sewing some clothing.

"Can I help you, sir?" the lady asked, without looking away from her work.

"Yes, you can, I'm going to need you to make something for me," Wu replied. The lady finally turned off the sewing machine and stood up and looked at Wu.

"You're going to need to be more specific than that, sir. What do you need me to make? Oh, and what color do you want it to be, because colors are important," the lady replied with a chuckle. Wu smiled.

"I need something green," Wu replied.

* * *

Titan and Hope have just arrived back at the ship with Lloyd and Kate. Once Titan and Hope landed, Kate and Lloyd dismounted and sprinted onto the boat. When Kate and Lloyd were in the ship's halls, they stopped to find the ninja and Nya in the computer room that Jay just discovered.

"Whoa, too cool," Lloyd breathed as he and Kate entered the room, but then he shook his head, "guys, we've learned something big—before I came here, I let loose the last survivor of the Anacondrai Serpentine tribe, his name was Pythor and he was the tribe general," Lloyd explained.

"Can you get to the point?" Kai cut in.

"We just went back to the Anacondrai tomb, and found out that Pythor is heading for the last two Serpentine tombs in the toxic bogs and the mountains, and we think it might be because he wants to let loose the tribes," Lloyd explained worriedly. Everyone gave concerned looks at each other.

"Oh great, well whatever goes wrong, is your fault, Lloyd," Kai complained.

"Can we not bring that up?" Lloyd protested.

"Everyone, calm down—we shouldn't stay here and blame Lloyd, we should be going out to search for Pythor and the tombs," Zane said firmly.

"Zane's right—Jay and Kai, you two head to the bogs, Zane and I will head to the alpines," said Cole.

There was a roar that came from outside the ship, and everyone left the room and out onto the deck to see what it was. Wisp had just landed with Wu in his back, and Wu not only had his staff, but also a large white bag. When Wu dismounted Wisp, he stared wide eyed at the full grown Titan and Hope. The ninja and Nya were also surprised to see how much Titan and Hope had changed.

"Uh, the dragons went through a growth spurt," Lloyd explained as he scratched the back of his head.

"You're not joking," Cole admitted. Wu walked onto the deck and everyone wondered what was in the bag.

"Where'd you go Sensei, and what's that?" asked Jay.

"I went to Ninjago City's Rue Twenty-One," Wu replied.

"Why would you go there, that's, like, a place for some one to go clothes shopping," said Nya.

"Exactly, and I asked the seamstress to make me something," Wu said as he dug his hand into the bag.

"And that is?" asked Zane.

"You will all find out when I find what I am looking for," Wu replied softly, and left the deck, leaving everyone else stumped.

"Guys, have we really already forgotten that we were about to look for the tombs?" asked Kai.

"Or, right, let's go, boys!" Cole said, and the ninja pulled up their ninja masks up and over their faces, and did Spinjitzu and jumped over the railing of the ship. When the ninja landed, they stopped spinning and head towards their dragons. Cole and Zane mounted Rocky, and Rocky began to sprint off into the desert, while Jay and Kai mounted Flame, and she flapped her huge bright wings, and they flew off. Kate and Lloyd were about to go and follow the ninja, when Nya grabbed their shoulders and stopped them.

"Whoa, half pints, where are you going?" Nya chuckled, "you aren't going with them, if that's what you're planning," Nya continued.

"But what are we supposed to do for fun then?" asked Kate.

"I don't know, vandalize stuff, if you want, just don't follow the ninja and/or do anything dangerously stupid," Nya replied, and walked away.

"Does she not know that vandalizing is both stupid and dangerous?" asked Kate.

"No, she doesn't, because I've vandalized plenty of stuff," Lloyd replied.

"Oh yeah, like what?" Kate asked out of curiosity. Lloyd smirked

"Well, it wasn't my plan to, but your lips for example," Lloyd replied. Kate's eyes snapped wide for a second, but then she shot glaring daggers at Lloyd.

* * *

Cole and Zane were riding on Rocky, who was now walking, as they arrived at the bottom of a very large mountain, much larger than the one Wu's monastery was on. And clouds surrounded high up parts of the mountain, but still, the top wasn't visible. And the mountain was very steep.

"Oh great, this mountain's too steep for Rocky to climb," Cole complained as he and Zane dismounted Rocky Zane looked around, until he found something spiraling up and around the mountain. It was a stair case, just like the mountain with Wu's monastery.

"Perhaps, taking the stairs is our best bet," Zane said softly.

"Fine," Cole sighed, and he and Zane walked up to the stairs and began to ascend them.

* * *

Kai and Jay were riding on the flying Flame as they came to a darker area filled with swampy and bog like areas. Flame landed, and Kai and Jay dismounted, and Flame landed near a small pool of toxic green looking liquid. And when Flame was close to it, it exploded, but it wasn't a big explosion, only like a smoke bomb sized explosion. This made the boys and the dragon jump.

"Uh oh, these bogs aren't normal, this place is filled with explosive acids," Kai said as he walked over to a dead tree, which it wasn't the only dead tree there, and broke off a dead limb. Kai walked over to a different small green liquid pool and stuck the stick in it. Sizzling sounds came from the stick and even smoke rose from it. When Kai lifted the limb back up, half of the stick was gone.

"Ouch," Jay said as he stared wide eyed at the burnt stick.

"Flame, you're going to have to wait outside the bogs—I definitely don't want to blow up, today," said Kai. Flame obeyed and huffed in response and then turned and walked out of the bogs.

Kai and Jay stared into the dark bogs, filled with dead trees, pools of toxic green acids, and even a slight green glow filled the place.

"We can't just walk the whole way, how are we going to get through here without walking through these acid pools?" asked Jay. Kai then looked up, and saw many long and outstretched tree limbs above the acid pools.

"Hmm," Kai hummed as he placed a hand on his chin.


	13. Chapter 13 - What am I?

Chapter 13 – What am I?

Cole and Zane has climbed up the stairs and were just now above the clouds around the mountain.

"I…hate…The Mountain…of a Million Steps," Cole said between heaving breaths.

"I am not tired, and I know you can continue, as well," said Zane.

"I always hate it when you're right," Cole growled. After more heaving and trumping up the steps, Cole and Zane arrived at the top. The top of the mountain had big rock spikes surrounding it, and inside the spikes was a big hole that lead into the mountain. Cole grabbed out his golden Scythe of Quakes, and pointed the blade horizontally at the spiky rocks. Cole closed his eyes, and lifted his scythe quickly, but then he lowered it slowly. And at the movement of the scythe, a path to the hole was being cut in the rock right before their eyes. When the path was cut to the ground, Cole opened his eyes and put his scythe away.

"Nicely done," Zane complimented. Cole said nothing as he and Zane walked through the cut and up to the whole. But they were greeted to see that a rope was tethered to a spiky rock as the rest of the rope was swaying down in the deep dark hole.

"Something tells me Pythor has already been here," said Zane.

"Really? I didn't know, Captain Obvious," Cole said sarcastically, "come on, let's get down there to see if we can find anything," Cole said as he dropped down to the edge of the hole, gabbed the rope and began to slide down slowly into the hole, and Zane followed Cole. The whole was many yards deeps, and when the boys got to the bottom, there was nothing but darkness. Cole and Zane looked around, but when Zane looked down on the concrete ground they were standing on, he gasped.

"Cole, look," Zane said as he walked back a bit. Cole looked down and his eyes went wide as he stepped back too. It was the symbol of constriction engraved into the ground.

"This symbol—it means constriction. I sense that this tribe is a very strong one," said Zane.

Suddenly deep and echo like hisses were heard in the tomb.

"You hear that?" Cole whispered. Cole and Zane were on alert as they looked around. Suddenly, behind Cole, a human sized hole burst open from the ground, and a Serpentine shot out from it, Cole was able to dodge the snake, causing the serpent to lunge forward and crash onto the ground, but then he whipped around at Cole and Zane.

He was a tribe general, and out of all the Serpentine tribe generals, his tail was the longest, but he was also the shortest, he had a very bulky body and head. He had a boa snake like appeared since almost his entire body was covered in black scales. He had glowing yellow eyes with black slit pupils. He had a short, bulky, yet curved horn on his nose, and had larger horns starting at the back of his head and leading down his back, he had grey and dark orange scale designs on his torso and head, and he had bulkier fangs than usual. He had ribbed biceps, and his arms were almost shorter than most, and his massive clawed hands and arms were covered in black scales.

The snake lunged forward again, and unlucky for the two ninja, he was able to get a hold of them. He grabbed Cole with his tail and wrapped it tightly around Cole's throat, and he grabbed Zane's throat tightly with his claws, and he lifted both men off the ground so their feet weren't touching the ground. Cole struggled to get out of the black serpent's tail grip around his neck as he coughed from being choked. The snake looked into Cole's eyes and chuckled darkly.

"You idiotsss should be ssssmarter than thisss to come into the Constrictai'ssss domain," he said in a deep, muscular voice.

"Go to Hell," Cole spat in a strained tone.

"Where do you think my kind came from? And where elssssse do you think I'm going to send your ssssssoul to?" the snake asked darkly, "look into my eyesss—I, Sskalidor, want to ssssee you die," the black snake, called Skalidor, hissed as he squinted while looking into Cole's emerald eyes.

Cole stared into Skalidor's eyes with no choice, and then his eyes rolled into the back of his head, as his arms dropped and his breath began to fade away. Soon Skalidor grinned at Cole's motionless body as he dropped him carelessly to the ground. Skalidor turned and glared at Zane.

"You're next," Skalidor growled.

"I hate it when I am always right, too," Zane sighed with fear. And Skalidor began to tighten his grip on Zane's throat. Zane closed his eyes with worry as he waited for the pain of being choked. But Zane was not gasping for breath, no matter how hard Skalidor was squeezing his neck, so he opened his silver eyes.

"I don't need oxygen," Zane breathed with wide eyes. Zane got angry, and so he acted fast by just leaning his head down to Skalidor's arm and bit it pretty hard.

"Ow!" Skalidor shouted as he dropped Zane and let him go. Zane rushed over to Cole, who still wasn't moving.

"Pythor had an ambush planned for you two, sssso I'll tell you that your other friendsssss are being lead into a trap too," Skalidor said angrily. Zane only glared at Skalidor as the black snake general hissed harshly and dove back into the hole he came out of, literally. Zane's face saddened when he looked at Cole's lifeless body.

"Cole?" Zane said Cole's name softly, but Cole didn't do anything. Zane gently placed two fingers on Cole's neck to check for a pulse, and then he sighed with relief seconds lets, meaning Cole still had a pulse.

"Thank goodness, you're still alive," Zane sighed, and then looked up at the rope, "oh, but it won't be easy to carry you back up there," Zane said sadly.

* * *

Jay and Kai were literally hopping from branch to branch above the burning acid bogs.

"You think that's the tomb?" Kai asked as he took a breath and spotted the fattest tree in the bogs sitting on a small piece of land.

"Only one way to find out," Jay replied. Jay and Kai continued to hop across the branches until they were in the big tree, and carefully climbed down it. When they were on solid ground, they realized there was big rock door that opened up to a dark tunnel in the tree's trunk.

"Shoot, Pythor beat us to it," Kai hissed. Kai lost interest and looked around the place and even began to walk around the tiny piece of land, while Jay was staring into the tunnel.

"Hello?!" Jay exclaimed into the tunnel in a sing song voice with smile, and he heard his words echo.

"How are you?!" Jay exclaimed, only to hear his voice echo back to him again. Jay got angry.

"Copy cat!" Jay called into the tunnel and his words echoed again. Jay thought for a moment at what to say next.

"I'm an idiot!" yelled Jay. But Jay didn't hear his echo. When a few more seconds went by, he heard his voice echo back to him and say: "Idiot!"

"Alright fine, but now that I'm whispering, I won't be able to hear you copy me," Jay whispered.

Seconds past.

"Idiot!" Jay heard his voice exclaim to him from the tunnel again, which made Jay's eyes go wide.

"Uh, Kai, wait for me!" Jay exclaimed. As he ran from the tunnel's entrance and met up with Kai.

"I don't get it, there's no one here," Kai said as he looked around. As Kai and Jay examined the area, they didn't notice the over-sized snake like motion in the toxic green liquids swimming ever so stealth like towards them. Kai walked up to the edge of the island, but he didn't notice the little frog sitting on a small clump of green algae. The frog croaked loudly, scaring Kai and making him jump, but when Kai saw the frog, he laughed awkwardly.

"You scared me little guy, so please don't do that aga-," Kai began as he smiled at the frog, but he stopped talking when the algae the frog was sitting on moved. It was actually a green scaled Serpentine head the frog was sitting on.

The snake had long green scaled arms and black scaled clawed hands, and so he reached a clawed hand and snatched the frog from the top of his head. The snake smiled evilly at the innocent frog, and so he put the rather plump frog between his jaws and big down on it hard with his fangs. The frog let out one last strained croak, and then the serpent threw his head back and swallowed the frog whole. Kai was horrified at the moment.

"Poor frog," Kai whimpered.

The snake jumped out of the green swamp liquid, and Kai jumped back as he got a good look at him. This snake was also a tribe general, with his long tail. Unlike the other snakes, he had four eyes, two on each side of his snake face, and his eyes were yellow with black slit pupils. He was about a foot taller than Kai, too. His body was covered in dark green scales, and he had yellow, orange and red scaled designs on his head, back and torso. He had fairly large fangs, as well. He also had six horns on top of his head, three on each side, and even two large inward curved horns on his cheeks. The snake had a head somewhat shaped like a Hypnobrai, with a pointed snout, and a very short green hood.

"Too bad you'll end up jusssst like that frog—killed by me: Acidicusssss," the green snake general, Acidicus, hissed. Suddenly Acidicus opened his mouth, and a spear of light green venom shot from his mouth, and towards Kai's face. Unlucky for Kai, Kai wasn't prepared for the venom, so it landed right in his brown eyes. Kai screamed in pain as he rubbed his eyes. Acidicus chuckled at Kai's pain, and when Kai took his hands away from his eyes, the whiteness in Kai's eyes changed into a sickening green color that surrounded his brown irises. Jay ran over to Kai.

"Hey Kai, I heard screaming, you ok?" Jay asked, but he skidded to a halt when he saw Acidicus, and began to back up. But Jay suddenly backed up into someone, and he turned to see it was a Serpentine.

The snake had green, black, yellow and red scale designs, so it's most likely he and Acidicus were the same kind of Serpentine. He had a vine strap tied over his shoulder that had small curved bottles of a mysterious red liquid tethered to the vine. This snake had no horns atop his head like Acidicus, but he did have a very large light green scaled hood, shaped like a Hypnobrai's, but he also had four eyes like Acidicus. The hooded green snake hissed as he raised his arms and claws at Jay.

Jay was so scared, that, even though he didn't know it, that through his veins a black liquid was traveling through his body and made its way to Jay's heart, and his heart pumped the black liquid faster through Jay's body.

Time started to slow down as Jay's hand began to become covered in dark green scales, and his fingernails became long sharp claws. Jay threw his transformed hand behind him, so that he could thrash it forward towards the snake in front of him. And when Jay swung his claws, he struck at one of the snake's four yellow eyes, causing it to fly right out of its socket. The snake cried in such pain from losing one of his eyes, and as things sped up again, his eye just flew through the air and bounced away. Jay was shocked, he was panting while he was staring at the snake as the green serpent held his claws to his wound while blood was seeping from his eye socket and through his hands. Jay stared at the green serpent for another moment before he stared at his hand, the one that struck the snake's eye. And when Jay looked at his hand, he caught a quick glimpse of black and green scales on his hand, but then they quickly faded away and returned back to his skin. Jay grabbed his once morphed hand by the wrist.

"Oh no," Jay whimpered. Jay slowly looked back up at the snake he injured, but at the same time, the green snake slowly turned his face back to look at Jay. And what Jay saw was nothing but gore written all over the snake's face.

The snake removed his claws, revealing his snarling and bared fangs, and especially the open and bloody eye socket on the top right corner that was on the snake's face, and that used to have an eye. The serpent let out a loud and blood curdling hiss combined with a growl. Jay then whimpered as he flashed a sheepish smile at the snake.

"You will regret ever hurting one of ussss," the snake hissed at Jay.

"And, what kind are you, exactly?" Jay asked awkwardly.

"The Venomarai!" the snake yelled at Jay. He then began to creep his bipedal, clawed legs towards toward Jay, and whip his dark green scaled tail as well.

"Uh, Jay, a little help, here!" Kai exclaimed worriedly as he ran while stumbling up to Jay, his eyes still a toxic green color,

"I can't see! I'm blind, and I'm not joking!" Kai whimpered. Acidicus was slithering quickly toward Kai and Jay. Suddenly, a tall lavender colored Serpentine with a long tail slithered dramatically out onto the scene and slithered toward the injured Venomarai snake, it was Pythor.

"Oh, that is one big snake," Jay whimpered as he stared wide eyed in fear at Pythor.

"Where? Where? I don't see it!" Kai asked rapidly as he looked anxiously around, and Jay ignored him.

"Hmm, as much as they desssserve it, don't waste your blinding venom on them, just—sssscar them for life," Pythor said as he looked at the Venomarai beside him and at Acidicus, making both the Venomarai grin evilly at Kai and Jay.

"Oh man," Jay whimpered.

"What? What's happening?!" Kai asked anxiously.

"This must be the 'Pythor' guy Lloyd was babbling about," Jay said to himself.

"Pythor? Where? I don't see him!" Kai said impatiently.

But suddenly, a whistling sound, as if something had been shot, came from the distance. And the source of the noise was coming from a tranquilizing dart that was shooting from the trees and was heading right toward Pythor, but no one noticed at first. But before anyone said anything, the dart impaled Pythor's elongated neck.

Pythor winced and then yanked the dart out of his neck, but when he saw what it was, he gasped.

"Alright, so we can't win thisssss battle, so retreat," Pythor said to Acidicus and the other Venomarai snake beside him. The two green Serpentine nodded and rushed back to the green liquids in the bogs, and dove in and disappeared into the acid pools. And before anything else happened, a massive object landed right behind Pythor, making a big THUD and also making Pythor and the red and blue ninja get thrown a few inches off the ground from the heavy impact.

The object was a giant metallic red samurai robot, with samurai like metal armor features and a helmet, and golden claw hands, and walked on two large legs. The cockpit was located in the torso of the red samurai robot, but a large piece of metal, that looked like could open and close, blocked off any visuals of the driver of the robot. Pythor shook as he quickly turned to look at what was behind him, and when he saw the robot, he shrieked in fear.

"Serpentine detected—activate Termination Mode," the robot said in a very low, electronic and robotic voice. And with a few shudders from the gadgets inside the robot, the machine reached one of its clawed hands for Pythor.

But Pythor was quick to react and dodged the hand, soon after, he slithered between the legs of the tall red machine and slithered rapidly and out of sight. The samurai robot soon looked at Kai and Jay.

"Am I hearing things?" asked Kai.

"Hey, thanks dude, I'm Jay. And, who are you?" Jay asked the robot with a smile. But the robot said nothing, for he only lifted one of his hands so that his metallic palm was facing Kai and Jay.

"Uh…" Jay said as his smile went away.

And suddenly a whole opened up in the robot's hand, and within the blink of an eye, two tranquilizing darts shot out from the robot's hand and immediately shot after Kai and Jay, afterwards, one of the two would pierce either Kai and Jay in the shoulders.

"Ouch!" Jay and Kai both exclaimed at once, and they pulled the darts out of them quickly.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Jay asked angrily.

"We shall meet again," the robot simply said, and with that, rocket boosters on the bottom of the robot's feet were activated, and the red samurai robot blasted away.

"Hey, come back here!" Jay called after the robot.

"Hey Jay, you ever get that weird feeling where the room is getting dark and you're going down?" Kai asked sleepily as he waved a pointed finger around and looked at nothing in particular as he wobbled around. But then Kai just dropped sleepily to the ground face first. After that, Jay's eyes started to become dilated and he gave a goofy smile.

"Yeah, yeah, I do, and I see pixies and pies everywhere, just floating, it's, like, 3-D—I'm gonna die," Jay mumbled as he wobbled around too, and at the last word, he just dropped to the ground too, right next to Kai. But just as Jay's eye lids were about to close, loud and low flapping noises were heard as strong winds swept through the area, and just when Jay's eyes fully closed, there was a loud and familiar roar. But then all was dark and quiet.

* * *

It was dark over the desert where Destiny's Bounty, but Jay was sleeping alone in the ninjas' room in his bed. Suddenly Jay woke up and immediately sat up, only for him to hit his head on the ceiling with a THUD, since he had a top bunk bed.

"Ugh, head throbbing," Jay moaned and got out of his bed without even bothering to climb down the bunk bed's ladder. Jay trudged over to the bedroom door that was left open and walked down the halls, until he got to the lit up computer room where everyone was.

"What are you all doing in here?" Jay asked sleepily. Everyone then noticed Jay, and Jay saw the worried expressions on their faces.

"Uh, how long have I been out?" Jay asked with a little worry.

"Eh, for about a year, I think," Cole replied, but with a grin. Jay's eyes popped wide and he squeaked.

"Cole, stop scaring him—you've only been unconscious for a few hours, Jay," Nya said as she glared at Cole, but then smiled at Jay, "lucky for you and Kai, Flame flew in and took you back here—e-even if she caused the bogs to blow up afterwards," Nya said with a sheepish chuckle. That made Jay sigh in such relief.

"Ok, and Kai, did you tell them about that robot dude?" asked Jay.

"Yeah, I did, and I'm so not happy with the guy; sure, he came in and saved us from the snakes, but then he shoots us with tranquilizing darts, I mean, who does that?" Kai said angrily.

"Well, maybe he wanted to keep his identity a secret, that's what super heroes do," Nya pointed out.

"True, but he wasn't a super hero, he was some samurai robot," Kai protested.

"Well, I couldn't care less about all that stuff now, 'cause I'd hate to miss out on everyone's birthday while I was unconscious," Jay said with a smile.

"Yeah well, the only thing I'd rather not miss out on is birthday cake—or any cake for that matter, right Zane?" Cole said with a smile, and elbowed Zane gently. But even though Zane was sitting right next to Cole, he was completely zoned out, and didn't listen to anything. When Cole noticed Zane wasn't responding, and turned to look at Zane with concern.

"Hey buddy, you alright?" asked Cole. At this, everyone looked at Zane and looked at him worriedly. Seconds of silence passed.

"I didn't need oxygen," Zane said softly, breaking the silence, and not looking at anyone.

"What was that?" Wu asked out of curiosity. Zane sighed before replying.

"When Cole and I faced the Constrictai general, Skalidor, he had Cole and I in a death grip; he choked Cole until he thought Cole was dead, but he wasn't, luckily—but when he tried to kill me in a choking grip—I couldn't be choked," Zane explained with sorrow.

"Um, how can you not choke?" Kai asked, his eyes not staring at anything in particular since his eyes were still green, and he was still blind from the Venomarai venom.

"Yeah, and I'm not following, you're making this sound like a bad thing," Lloyd added.

"That's because it is bad!" Zane snapped while shooting everyone a glare, taking them all by surprise, "it could mean I'm not like the rest of you, not at all, and if that means I'm not human, then I don't know what I am!" Zane exclaimed, but not as loud as before.

"Zane, we've been through this before, we're all different, and if you don't like the word 'different,' then try 'unique'," Kate said as she placed a hand on Zane's shoulder. Zane had an angry look as he closed his eyes and sighed as he looked down.

"If none of you will listen to me when I say that I'm different; then believe when I say that I'm just—not the same," Zane said softly.

Suddenly Zane opened his eyes and looked down at his feet, where he placed his golden Shurikans of Ice on the floor. Zane leaned down and picked both of the shurikans up before placing them on the table.

"Zane, what are you-?" Jay began, before Zane cut him off.

"I can't be a part of this team until I know who and/or what I am," Zane said firmly as he stood up and walked passed everyone and up to the door way. Zane stopped in the doorway and slightly turned to look back.

"Goodbye, for now," Zane said softly, and with that, he left. Everyone exchanged sad glances at each other.

"What are we going to do now? We can't work as a ninja team of three," Kai said breaking the silence.

"Sensei, do you think Zane will come back on his own?" Nya asked as she looked at Wu with sad eyes and held the wound on her arm with her hand, and that wound was still wrapped in bandages. Wu's blue eyes were full of sorrow too, as he tapped his fingers on his staff.

"Hmm, I don't know, Zane knows that there is no 'I' in 'team'—but he must have realized that there is an 'I' in 'ninja'," Wu sighed.

But while Wu and Nya were talking, the other three ninja, Lloyd, and Kate were looking at each other. Lloyd and Kate were quietly beckoning the ninja to go after Zane. Cole, Kai, and Jay looked at each other and nodded before they crept out of the room. Seconds later, after the ninja left, Wu and Nya noticed the boys were gone.

"Where did the others go?" Nya asked Lloyd and Kate.

"Eh, they decided to head to some pub joint in Ninjago City; said they wanted to 'get their minds off Zane'," Lloyd replied.

* * *

Meanwhile, Zane was outside on the ship's deck while leaning against the rail. The ninja remained a fair distance away from Zane so he wouldn't notice them.

"Ok, obviously the guy stretched the truth when he said he was leaving," Jay whispered.

"Maybe, but we can't meddle into the poor guy's life, it's his life, and he knows what he believes," Cole whispered back.

"Hey, guys look," Jay said as he pointed up. Cole followed his gaze, but Kai didn't since he was still blind.

"Have you forgotten that I'm still blinded by this stupid venom?" Kai whispered harshly, and rubbed his green sore eyes.

"Whatever, but it's a bird, and it's—it's just flying right over Zane," Jay said as he looked above the moping Zane and saw the hawk flying over him, but Zane didn't notice it.

"Wait, didn't Kate say something about her and Zane following a hawk that lead them to the Fangpyre tomb?" Kai pointed out.

"It looks like a hawk to me, maybe it's the same one," Cole added. Suddenly, Zane finally looked up and saw the hawk, and then he surprised the ninja when he left his spot and ran off the deck when the hawk began to fly away, and he ran across the desert to follow the bird.

"Is he serious? He's gonna get himself killed in a desert all because he wanted to follow some winged raptor," Jay said angrily.

"Well then, let's not sit around like a bunch of Jays, let's go after him," Cole said, and he and Kai ran off after Zane, but Jay remained still as he glared at Cole.

"I will have you know that I am very inventive!" Jay called as he finally ran after Cole and Kai.

* * *

The Hypnobrai and the Fangpyre tribes remained in the icy tomb of the Hypnobrai. Mezmo, one of the Hypnobrai, walked up to Skales, who was talking with Fangtom, the Fangpyre general.

"General Ssskalessss, we have ssssspotted company heading our way—Sssserpentine company," Mezmo hissed.

"Hmm, sssoundss dire. Fangtom, let'ssss go and talk to them; sssee what they want," Skales replied. Afterwards, Fangtom and Skales slithered out of the icy tomb, and were greeted by Pythor, the Anacondrai general of his deceased tribe, Skalidor, general of the fairly large Constrictai tribe, and also Acidcus, general of the also fairly large Venomarai tribe.

"What are you all doing here—did that blond brat let you all go assss well?" Skales asked darkly.

"You could say that, but we come here in peace; all I ask is that we gather all tribes for a meeting," Pythor said in his charming tone.

"Vhen?" Fangtom piped in.

"Immediately," Pythor replied.


	14. Chapter 14 - I know who I am

Chapter 14 – I know who I am

The sun was high over the horizon as the ninja followed Zane as he followed the hawk, but they followed him from a good distance. They were arriving in a large forest with lots of snow and ice on the ground, a few snowy mountains in the distance, and there were many tall trees with long dead limbs. But Cole, Kai and Jay began to get tired and fell behind, while Zane kept following the flying bird into the large wintery forest. Suddenly the ninja were out of breath and stopped for a breather.

"Oh, I can't run anymore," Cole panted.

"Yeah, I bet Zane's ran a marathon before," Jay panted. Kai was the only one who kept walking, but he only walked a few inches as he accidently tripped over some hard object buried in the snow.

"Son of a-!" Kai exclaimed but cut himself off when he turned back at the lump in the snow, "that wasn't snow, was it?" asked Kai.

"What is that?" Cole asked as he and Jay walked over to Kai and helped him up as they all stared at the lump in the snow. Jay leaned down and rubbed the snow away, and they found out it was a small wooden picket sign with words carved into it.

"It says something, but I can't quite make it out," Jay said as he squinted at the old writing on the sign, "though it looks like it says 'BEWARE OF TREEHORNS'," Jay said as he read the sign aloud.

"Treehorns? What in all of Ninjago are those?" asked Kai.

"I don't know, but we thought dragons and Serpentine couldn't exist, when lo and behold they do, so I think we should listen to this warning," Cole said as he looked at the sign. Suddenly a low and loud wailing was echoing through the woods.

"What was that?" Jay whimpered.

"I don't know, but we better go," Kai pointed out, and they began to run after Zane again. But Zane was no longer in sight.

* * *

The said ice ninja was much father ahead as he followed the hawk. Suddenly, as Zane approached a tree with a very large trunk, the hawk stopped flying and plummeted to the snowy ground. Zane gasped as he ran up to the bird. But when Zane saw the bird close up, he realized the bird was twitching and electrical sparks flew from the bird's body, as if it were a robot. Zane's silver eyes widened.

"A robot?" Zane said in awe as he gaped at the bird, but then he picked it up. Suddenly Zane looked up and noticed the large tree in front of him and gasped.

"This place—it was the first thing I remember in my life—it was tree I awoke in," Zane said and walked up to the tree. Zane hit his knuckles on the tree bark, but it wasn't bark, it was metal made to look like bark. And each time Zane knocked on the metal bark, the bark made a low CLANK noise. Zane walked to a different side of the tree, and found a large crack in the tree, but it was actually a large metal door left slightly open. Zane reached for the door and pulled it open with slight ease. As the door swung slowly all the way open, the bright mid-day light reflecting off the snow seeped into the large dark room in the fake tree.

The room was underground, so a spiraling staircase spun down from the door Zane was at and lead to the floor of the room. There was a bed on the floor with a few old blankets. Many old pipes and water tanks were in the room too, as well as some very old and dusty computers.

Zane walked carefully down the stairs and into the circular room. When Zane looked at a table in the room, he noticed a table with some old blue prints. Zane walked up to the table and grabbed a single sheet of blue prints. The blue prints on the paper Zane picked up had an exact picture of the hawk he was holding, showing many visible wires and gadgets in the hawk.

"Hmm," Zane hummed as he put the paper down and opened a chest panel on the hawk, revealing the gadgets that were said to be their on their on the robot hawk's blue prints. Zane saw a few bent and dislocated wires in the hawk, so he straightened them and put them back into place. When Zane was finished repairing the bird, the birds eye flickered open, and he fluttered his wings. Zane adjusted the bird so the hawk would perch on his wrist.

"That must feel much better, right?" Zane asked with a smile, the bird only took Zane be surprise and flew off of Zane and landed on one of the stairs and stared down at Zane.

"What I don't get is why you would bring back here—and why would your blue prints be here too?" Zane asked as he turned and looked at the other old blue prints. Zane spread the papers out, until he saw one of the papers had his name written on it.

"Huh?" Zane asked as he pulled the blue prints with his name on it out. Zane stared at the paper for a matter of seconds before his eyes went as wide as dinner plates and he began to hyperventilate. As Zane went into panic mode, the hawk blinked its yellow eyes, and they once again became a glowing blue color.

* * *

Outside, the other ninja were running up to the tree, and they skidded to a halt when they saw the tree had a giant metal door hanging open.

"Uh, is there supposed to be a door on that tree—or is the tree just some genetically modified hybrid?" Jay asked as he turned his head at a ninety degree angel to stare at the tree.

"I bet Zane's been here; let's go," Cole ordered and he and the other two walked up to the tree and through the door. When they arrived at the top of the spiraling staircase in the tree, they gasped when they saw Zane sitting slumped up against the wall with his head tilted upwards and his eyes closed.

"Zane, what the heck are you doing in a tree?" Jay asked as he looked around while he and Kai and Cole walked down the stairs. But since Kai couldn't see the last step, he missed the step and fell flat on the floor.

"Ow," Kai said as his voice was muffled by the floor. Cole helped Kai up.

"Now I know," Zane simply said without looking at anyone.

"Know—what?" asked Cole.

"Now I know why I didn't need oxygen when I was being choked, why I don't have a sense of humor—or why I'm not like you, because I'm not you," Zane said softly.

"Well, yeah I mean, I'm Jay, they're Kai and Cole, and you're Zane, duh," Jay joked.

"No—I mean I'm not human," Zane said as he finally got up and looked at the boys.

"Ix-may on the Onfusion-cay," Kai said flatly in Pig-Latin. Zane only sighed as he pulled up his ninja suit, revealing his bare torso, and opened a chest panel, just like the hawk. Cole and Jay jumped back and shrieked, but Kai remained still and confused.

"What am I missing?" asked Kai.

"You're missing the fact that Zane's a robot," Cole whimpered as he stared at the buttons and lights and wires inside Zane, meaning he was a robot.

"Yeah," Jay sighed, "and it's so cool, you're a robot ninja, no, a Nindroid!" Jay exclaimed happily.

"A what?" Cole and Kai asked in unison.

"I had a humor switch, and it was switched off this whole time," Zane said as he pointed to a switch in him with the label 'Humor.'

"So that's why you never got idioms," Jay sighed.

"And I'd rather keep it that way," Zane said softly, and closed the panel and put his suit back down over him.

"So, now that-," Kai began, but Zane interrupted him.

"Wait, hold on Kai," Zane cut in, and grabbed an empty glass cup that he found and went over to a nearby sink, and rushing water noises were soon heard.

"Huh, I'm surprised this place still has plumbing," Cole piped up.

Zane turned off the water and the glass was filled with clear and clean water. Zane walked over to Kai and stood directly in front of him. Kai looked confused. Suddenly Zane just splashed the water right into Kai's eyes. Kai winced and rubbed his eyes. But when Kai opened his eyes again, they were no longer green, and were back to normal. Kai gasped and smiled.

"Hey, I can see! I didn't see what that was? What was it, some kind of scientific liquid substance that can cure all?" Kai asked happily as he blinked away the water in his eyes.

"That there was H2O," Zane replied flatly and put the glass down.

"Oh," Kai said with a dull look, "so, as I was saying, you said you'd come back to the team after you found out who you were, so will you come back?" Kai continued.

"I can't. Yes, I did say I would return when I said I discovered who I was, but I didn't. I only discovered what I was, and I don't know who built me, and why," Zane explained.

"What are you saying?" asked Cole.

"I can't go back, not yet, at least, so please just leave me," Zane said reluctantly as he turned his back to the ninja.

The boys all exchanged sad glances before reluctantly heading back up the stairs and out of the tree. It was quiet, until the hawk flew down and landed on the table in front of Zane, making Zane look at the bird. The bird leaned down, for he was standing on Zane's blue prints, and he pecked the paper. Zane looked at the spot the bird pecked and noticed the hawk was pecking at a picture of a switch located in Zane. Zane gasped and lifted his suit up and quickly opened the panel, he looked down at a stray switch labeled 'Memory.'

"I have a memory switch?" Zane said as he looked at the switch, and then he saw that it was switched off. "The Memory Switch" by Jay Vincent begins to play. So Zane slowly flipped the switch on. And suddenly Zane went stiff and his silver eyes began to glow.

* * *

Zane had flashbacks of himself in the tree. Zane was dressed in all white, white long sleeved shirt, white jeans, and white sneakers.

The first thing he saw was a man with brown hair, green eyes, and wore glasses. After that memory, Zane remembered taking a first step, most likely just after being built, and he looked up and saw his reflection in a mirror he and the man was standing in front of. Zane looked over at the man. He was wearing lab clothes.

"Hello Zane, I'm your creator, Dr. Julian," the man, Dr. Julian, said softly to Zane.

Zane had another flashback of when he and his dad were cooking some homemade soup.

Another flashback of Dr. Julian first introducing the hawk to Zane appeared.

A flashback of Zane and Dr. Julian, with the hawk perched on Zane's shoulder as they posed and their picture was taken together came too.

And finally, a flashback of Dr. Julian as an old man laying on the bed in the room, and he raised a shaky hand towards Zane. Zane was staring sadly down at his dying creator.

"Zane, before I go, know that I built you to protect those who can't protect themselves, and I want you to fulfill that wish of mine," Dr. Julian said softly, and Zane nodded with a soft smile, "and what I'm about to do—is only because you were like my son, and I love you," Dr. Julian said with a smile and took off his glasses. Zane's smile disappeared as Dr. Julian reached a weak hand towards Zane's chest panel and opened it. Dr. Julian reached for Zane's 'Memory' switch and flipped it off. Just as Zane's memory went away, he went stiff and stared at nothing in particular, and Dr. Julian took his last breath, closed his eyes, and his glasses slid from his hand and fell to the floor.

* * *

Zane snapped back to reality, as his eyes stopped glowing, and he remained quiet. Suddenly, a black liquid leaked from one of Zane's eyes. Zane noticed the black liquid on his face and wiped it clean off, and he stared t it on his hand.

"Oil," Zane said softly, "a robot cries oily tears," Zane said sadly, and let his hand drop to his side. Zane then turned towards the bed and noticed a small rectangle shaped figure covered by a piece of cloth. Zane removed the cloth, and found it was the picture taken of Zane, Dr. Julian and the hawk together in a picture frame.

* * *

Meanwhile, the other three ninja just waited outside the tree.

"Poor Zane, it must be a lot to take in to know that you're not human," Cole sighed.

"Yeah, and let's not put more pressure on the guy-I mean robot-or whatever, and make him come back when he doesn't want to; let's just go back, I'm sure he'll return soon," Kai explained.

But before the ninja even took one step to head back, slow, and loud thumping noises were heard throughout the forest, as if a dinosaur were walking on the ground.

"Ok, this was why I hated Jurassic Park," Jay said, as the thumping continued. Suddenly, the cracking and the falling noises of trees were heard. A nearby tree was suddenly uprooted, along with three other perfectly squared trees.

"Uh, trees aren't supposed to move!" Cole exclaimed with fear. The low wailing from earlier was heard again. More and more trees around the ninja were becoming uprooted, and were actually beginning to walk with any other three trees.

* * *

Back inside the tree, Zane picked up the picture and examined it sadly. "Zane's True Potential" by Jay Vincent began to play.

"I won't let you down—father," Zane said softly. But suddenly the moment was ruined when loud screaming noises coming from the ninja outside. Zane put the picture down, and put up his ninja mask up and over his face as he ran up the stairs.

But when Zane got back outside, he saw the others doing Spinjitzu and they had their golden weapons out as they were fighting a tall creature.

The creature walked on four legs that blend in with the trees, and their legs were many, many, many yards tall. They had slim ant shaped bodies, and even giant ant shaped heads, and they had massive jaws with fangs. But the towering creatures also had no eyes. The ninja were outnumbered as they fought about six or seven of the creatures. Kai stopped fighting and was first to notice Zane.

"Zane, they're Treehorns!" Kai said, and he grabbed out the now noticeable golden Shurikans of Ice he was carrying.

"Here!" Kai exclaimed as he threw the shurikans to Zane. Zane caught his golden weapon in his hands.

Zane didn't know what to do, so he just stood there as he watched the many ton weighing Treehorns to almost crush his brothers in a single stomp.

"There may be an 'I' in ninja, but their isn't in 'team'!" Zane exclaimed firmly. Zane suddenly threw both his shurikans at the last minute as the group of Treehorns surrounded the ninja, and the shurikans shot ice from themselves, and the ice shot at the Treehorns' knees and froze their knee joints. The shurikans came flying back to Zane like boomerangs, but then Zane threw them again. And this time, the shurikans were thrown right at the Treehorns' knees, and since their knees were covered in breakable ice, when the shurikans struck each and every knee, the knees broke apart, and the Treehorns fell to the ground, each with a very loud THUD. And when the Treehorns' heavy bodies fell from such a great distance off the ground, when they all landed, their spines made a sickening crack sound, and they roared and shrieked in pain.

"Nice one, Nindroid," Jay complemented.

"Thank you for the complement and insult—but we aren't done here," Zane said, and with that, more deep thumping and roaring was head. A big shadow loomed over the ninja as they tried to step back in fear.

"What is that?" Cole whimpered.

"The Queen," Zane replied.

They were all staring upon a Treehorn much bigger than the others, and she had multiple purple colored eyes on her face.

"We're gonna die!" Jay exclaimed with fear.

"No!" Zane exclaimed as he stepped forward to the Queen Treehorn, "I know who I am now, and as long as I know I am Zane, I won't let you hurt them!" Zane yelled at the Queen Treehorn.

The queen roared at Zane, but suddenly Zane threw his shurikans up in the air, and they lined up with each other and spun as they remained in mid-air. The holes in the golden shurikans were aimed right at the queen. Suddenly Zane drew his hand back, and he acted as if he were holding something, but nothing was visible in his hand. But suddenly a very large, long and sharp spear made out of ice formed in Zane's hand.

"Whoa," the other ninja said in awe.

Zane grunted as he threw the ice spear. Things slowed down and went silent as the spear approached the mid-air shurikans and flew right towards the holes. As soon as the sharp tip of the spear just barely reached the shurikans, things sped up again. The ice spear shot straight through the holes of the two shurikans, and as soon as the spear went through, it was engulfed in a white color. The shurikans jerked back as the spear suddenly got a major speed boost from them and it continued to shoot right for the queen. The spear soon impaled the Queen Treehorn in the neck. The queen roared in pain and staggered before falling to the ground. The Queen Treehorn took a few more rasping breaths before she stopped moving, and was gone. The shurikans suddenly stopped spinning and floating and plopped down into the snow. Zane walked up to his shurikans and picked them up.

"Zane—are you ok?" Cole asked softly, breaking the silence. Zane turned and cracked a smile at his metaphorical brothers.

"Never better—come, let's all go home," Zane said softly, making the others smile, and they eventually began their trek back to Destiny's Bounty.

* * *

In the icy tomb of the Hypnobrai, all the tribes, Hypnobrai, Fangpyre, Constrictai and Venomarai were all gathered together. While the four generals of the tribe, Fangtom, Skales, Skalidor, and Acidcus, along with Pythor, were getting the attention of the four tribes.

"Listen, all tribes, I am Pythor, general of the now deceased Anacondrai tribe, but I stand before you, along with your generals, to ask of you all to join together so we can make the surface dwellers of Ninjago suffer beneath our claws, so what do you ssssssay?!" Pythor announced, earning cheering hisses and evil cackling from the Serpentine. Pythor smiled at this.

"Good, that means yes, but I will tell you that the reason I am gathering all of the tribes is so we can release The Great Devourer!" Pythor announced, making the cheers louder.

"Yesss, the very one and only snake that we worship as our god, we will set him free, and he will destroy all of Ninjago, making the strength of us Ssserpentine known!" Pythor yelled over the cheering.

"Sssssilence you goonssss!" Skalidor boomed in his low voice, and the cheering stopped.

"Thank you, Skalidor," said Pythor, "now, to set the Great Devourer free, we must find the only things that will release it: the Four Silver Fang Blades. They say to find them we need the venom from each Serpentine tribe!" Pythor yelled.

With that, Pythor grabbed out the map of the Serpentine tombs, the one he stole from Lloyd, and unrolled it so the crowd could see it. Pythor then turned the map horizontal in his claws, and then he bared his fangs over the paper. Dark purple colored venom began to drip from his fangs and onto the parchment.

"Generals, spill your venom, and the locations of the Four Fang Blades will be revealed," Pythor demanded, and soon the other four Serpentine tribe generals gathered around the paper, and allowed their venom to drop from their fangs and onto the map. The exotic colored venom of the generals mixed together and spread out among the map, and soon, pictures that once seemed invisible, began to appear on the map in front of their eyes. The generals looked down at the map agape. Pythor began to chuckle evilly.

"Yesss," Pythor hissed with a grin.


	15. Chapter 15 - Jay the serpent

Chapter 15 – Jay the serpent

The ninja, including Zane, arrived back at Destiny's Bounty, and everyone was gathered in the computer room.

"…and then killed the queen ant, or whatever," Jay finished explaining.

"A Nindroid?" Nya asked flatly.

"That's so cool, a robot ninja," Lloyd said with smile.

"See Zane, you are too unique to, you know, commit suicide," Kate said sheepishly.

"Yes, I know that now, and until the day of my fate comes, I'm going to make the best of my life with all of you—and I will also bid my father's wishes: to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Because, I may not be human, but I'm also no ordinary machine. I'm just—Zane," Zane said softly with a smile.

"Well said Zane. Now, go make dinner," Kai piped up.

The others laughed, and Zane sighed, but with a smile. But Just before Zane made a step to walk away, a warning sound came from the computer, and the computer screen began to come on and flash red.

"What is that?" asked Kate.

"It's the new Ninjago Monitor system I put in, this computer can hack into any surveillance camera, news channel, or even police scanner that senses danger, and it reports it back to us," Jay explained as he rushed to the computer and pushed the buttons to make it stop.

Suddenly, the computer stopped making a warning noise and stopped flashing red.

"Danger located in Mega Monster Amusement Park. Problem: Serpentine," the computer said in a female robot voice.

"Ooh, cool, amusement park, I'm totally there!" Lloyd cheered.

"Sorry runt, this is a job for ninja," Kai chuckled, making Lloyd stop cheering and shoot Kai a glare.

"Exactly, now get going," Nya pointed out.

With that, the ninja put up their ninja masks, grabbed out their golden weapons and headed out, eventually mounting their dragons and leaving.

"Can't believe he called me 'runt,' I mean, I'm the grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master, and who's he the offspring of, huh?" Lloyd asked angrily.

"A blacksmith," Kate simply replied.

"Exactly," said Lloyd.

"Ahem," Nya cleared her throat while shooting Lloyd a death glare, and Lloyd smiled sheepishly as he looked at Nya, "and what's so bad about being the daughter of a village blacksmith?" Nya asked angrily.

"Uh, sorry, didn't make a list of flaws, goodnight!" Lloyd exclaimed in fear and dashed out of the room.

"Ugh, I don't know how you got the guts to kiss that kid," Nya sighed.

"You know, you're lucky you're the only one that doesn't make me feel neglected because of my sex, or I'd be strangling you right now," Kate said flatly.

"Fair point," Nya replied, "oh, but hey, gotta go and, uh, put some new bandages on the wound here," Nya said quickly and sheepishly as she put her hand gently over her bandages.

"But, you put new bandages on about an hour ago," Kate pointed out with a quirked eye brow. Nya began to panic.

"Well, I still got to put some more Hydrogen Peroxide on it, so goodbye!" Nya said quickly, and left the room before Kate could protest again. Kate turned and looked confused at Wu, who was also in the room, drinking tea.

"What's up with her?" asked Kate.

"I'm not so sure," Wu sighed, and sipped his tea, "but I want to ask you Kate: how good are you with that bow?" Wu asked as he reached for a cube of sugar for his tea.

But Kate quickly took her bow from her shoulders, took an arrow from her quiver, and strung the arrow. In the blink of an eye, Kate shot the arrow and it immediately pierced the small sugar cube in Wu's hand, but it also took the cube with it, as the arrow head impaled the ship's wall. Wu still had his hand in the position when he was just holding the sugar cube. Wu stared at his hand, and then at the pool impaled sugar cube with an arrow through it. Wu chuckled and looked at Kate again.

"You have very good reflexes and accuracy," Wu complemented as Kate relaxed herself and lowered her bow, "oh, and one more thing," Wu began before he took one more sip of tea and set it down, "training begins tomorrow," Wu continued.

* * *

A giant and lit up amusement park sat in the middle of a nature like environment; as the night sky filled with the moon and stars blanketed the area. Rides like roller coaters and ferries wheels were alive as their multi-colored were blinking and flashing.

But as many citizens were eating cotton candy and corn dogs in the park, little did they know that scaly danger was emerging just outside the park. A Constrictai, that looked a lot like Skalidor, dug his way out of a whole he just created in the solid earth, and used his clawed hands and clawed bipedal legs to pull himself out of the large hole. Soon, Skales appeared and hung out his hand to the Constrictai. The black snake grabbed Skales' hand and pulled Skales out of the hole, and Skales slithered off with a sneer. Pythor soon appeared in the hole right after Skales, but Pythor ignored the Constrictai, even though he offered a hand to Pythor, and Pythor just slithered out and looked at the amusement park with Skales. Clutched in Pythor's claws was the map, the map of the Four Fang Blades.

"Really, the map sssaid a fang blade wassss located here?" Skales asked as he scowled at the joyful amusement park that he despised.

"I'm not happy either, but at least we can strike fear into more souls at once," Pythor said with an evil look.

"True," Skales admitted, "but how are we, Ssserpentine, jusssst ssssupposssssed to waltz in there?" asked Skales.

"Look, I've never been to an amusement park, but I know for certain that every sssap who goessss there will fall for about anything, even costumes—costumes like thessssse," Pythor hissed with a grin as he looked at his shimmering violet scales. Skales' red ringed eyes went wide with confusion as he looked at Pythor.

"Cossstumes?"

"Come," Pythor said with beckoned claw as he, Skales and a few other Serpentine from the other tribes, who just emerged from the hole, walked into the large, loud and festive amusement park. The sign in the gate way read in all caps MEGA MONSTER AMUSEMENT PARK.

"Now, most people don't even know we exist, and in this century; they think everything is fake; watch," Pythor whispered to Skales, and the purple snake quickened his slithering and approached a couple of young adults with a young boy. The women was first to notice Pythor, and she had a camera strapped over her neck, so she gasped and smiled when she saw Pythor and the other Serpentine.

"Oh, my gosh, nice costumes. Can we get a photo op with you?" the lady asked as she took her camera off her neck. Pythor quirked an eye brow and looked back at Skales, and Skales nodded at him, and then Pythor looked back at the people in front of him.

"Oh, but of course, and welcome to Mega Monster Amusement Park," Pythor said with a fake friendly smile. The woman handed Skales her camera as the trio and Pythor gathered around for a picture as Skales held up the camera.

"Ssssay cheesssse, everyone!" Skales said enthusiastically.

"Cheese!" they exclaimed as they posed and smiled. Skales took the picture, and the flash was on, so after the picture was taken, Pythor scowled and blinked the brightness out of his purple eyes.

"If you want the photo shipped to you, that'll be ten bucks, extra five for free shipping," the boy piped up after Skales. After the trio left the Serpentine, Skales hissed towards the boy, even though no one noticed.

"Calm yourssself, Skales, after we find the fang blades, they will perish," said Pythor.

"Let'ssss hope sssso," Skales hissed.

* * *

Four dragons, the ninjas' dragons, have just arrived outside the lit up colorful amusement park. The four grown men dismounted their dragons.

"Why the heck would something as vial as the Serpentine come here?" Cole asked with anger, "this place is for kids, I don't get it; only an idiot would love this place," Cole sneered.

"I love this place!" Jay exclaimed happily with a big grin on his face.

"I rest my case," Cole sighed.

"Um, it may be too sudden, but my computer knowledge is telling me the Serpentine are looking for an ancient artifact; no doubt to be used for evil," said Zane.

"Dude, you found out you were a machine less than twelve hours ago and you're already using the gadgets in you?" Kai asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"It would appear so," Zane replied.

"Well, delve deep into what you know; we need details here," Jay cut in.

"Well, my knowledge is limited, but what I do know is that the Serpentine most likely have a map to help them find their main objective," Zane explained, "but we, ourselves, might as well throw darts at a map," Zane sighed.

"Or, we could follow the snakes and ambush them," Kai pointed out.

"Good idea, hot-head, now let's go," Cole said and he began to walk towards the park, with the others trailing behind him.

But while Cole, Kai and Zane were walking, they didn't notice Jay stopped as he winced and he clutched a hand to his neck where the two puncture wounds were. Jay grunted softly in pain, and as he did, he jaw hung open, and Jay didn't notice his K-9 teeth start to grow to a long sharp point; like that of a snake's fangs. Jay's eyes popped wide as he licked the two fangs in his mouth and realized that they were fangs.

"Oh no," Jay whimpered, and he quickly pulled his ninja mask over his face.

"Jay?" Zane's voice startled Jay, "what are you doing?" asked Zane.

"Uh, n-nothing, I-I'm coming," Jay stuttered while his voice was a bit muffled by his mask, and he scurried away. Zane quirked an eyebrow at Jay's behavior, but then he just shook his head and continued on as well.

* * *

Inside the park, a large group of people were strolling through a fun house with a very scary theme. Scary things like fake vampires in coffins, a Frankenstein, and even robotic mummies were set up in the scary themed fun house. A robotic vampire jumped out of a coffin and made cackling noises as it jumped out at a grown man. The man winced at first, but then he scoffed.

"Man, this place is a rip-off. 'The Purge' is scarier than this dump," the man said flatly. The group of not-so-scared people continued to walk through the fun house until they came up to a large window with the control room of the fun house on the other side.

But the people gawked into the control room when they saw the operator not at the controls, but being strangled to death by a Constrictai Serpentine. The black boa was not alone though; other snakes from the other tribes were with him, and Skales and Pythor were there too. But Pythor was trying to dig his claws into the floor boards and rip the boards from their place, while Skales glared at the people. Skales then turned to the few members of the Constrictai tribe, and then he nodded his head sideways toward the people on the other side of the window.

"Ssssick 'em," Skales hissed. And in the blink of an eye, the Constrictai boas lunged themselves at the window and smashed through, causing glass to shatter everywhere.

Now the people were getting scared and began to scatter in fear as the Constrictai chased them. One Constrictai was chasing a full grown man, and when he caught him, he clutched the man by his shoulders with his claws, as the man whimpered and stared into the snake's yellow eyes. The snake slowly grinned evilly and chuckled darkly as he slowly reached his tail up to the man's neck. The Constrictai wrapped his tail tightly around the man's neck, and suddenly jerked his tail; causing the man's neck to break with a loud SNAP, and the man died instantly. So the black boa humanoid dropped the man to the ground.

Meanwhile, Pythor was still ripping wood boards from the floor. Pythor grunted as he struggled to pull the floor board up, but soon the light reflected off of a shiny object just beneath the floor boards. The light reflected and shined into Pythor's eyes, getting Pythor's attention as he caught the glimpse of the shiny object between the cracks in the floor. Suddenly, a member of the Venomarai tribe approached Pythor and stared down at the board Pythor was clutching. The Venomarai spit some acid venom from his mouth and at the board. When the acid hit the wood, it immediately began to burn the wood; a large hole, big enough to fit a fist through, was being burned into the wood. The acid seeped through, and it dropped onto the shiny object below. Pythor grinned as he reached for the object, and when he pulled it out, he chuckled darkly.

The object he pulled out was a silver blade shaped just like a snake fang, and it had designs carved into the silver blade, and even a slight blue glow emitted from the blade too.

"Behold, brothers: the firsssst Silver Fang Blade," Pythor announced to the Serpentine, and they all hissed in reply.

"So that's what you rodent eaters are after?!" Cole's voice suddenly boomed into the room. The Serpentine were not happy to see the four ninja, masks up and golden weapons bared.

"How dare you?!" Pythor yelled in rage, "get them!" Pythor demanded the other Serpentine in the room, and even the other Constrictai came back to attack as well.

Cole immediately swung his golden scythe at the neck of one of the Constrictai coming up from behind him, and decapitated it. Cole then glared back at Pythor and Skales.

Suddenly, the wall behind Pythor and Skales were smashed by a giant fist. When the dust cleared, a hole in the wall revealed that the fist belonged to the samurai robot, the same one from the toxic bogs.

"You!" Jay exclaimed and glared at the red robot.

"Activating magnet," the robot said in his deep mechanical voice, and with a few whirs from it, it stuck its palm out to face Pythor, and soon the silver fang blade in Pythor's claws was ripped from Pythor's grip, and was pulled towards the magnet in the robot's hand. When the robot had the fang blade in his metal claws, he soon gripped it harder and began to run from the scene.

"No, don't let that metal beast get away, get that blade back, at all costs!" Pythor yelled, and the rest of the Serpentine sprinted after the robot. The robot stopped and tried to activate its rocket boosters in its feet, but sparks and smoke soon emitted from the rockets, and it couldn't blast off.

"A minor malfunction," the robot said, and continued to run from the Serpentine, but the Serpentine's powerful bipedal legs made it quite easy to keep up with the samurai robot. But the ninja were still stuck with Pythor and Skales.

"You!" Skales yelled at Jay, "Fangtom told me about you—have you told your friendssss about 'it'?" Skales asked with an evil grin at Jay.

"Jay, what's he talking about?" Cole asked firmly. Jay didn't respond as he sheepishly reached his hand to his mask and rubbed his hands through the mask where the bite mark on his neck would be. Cole noticed Jay's hand on his neck, so he jerked Jay's hand away and pulled Jay's mask off of his face, revealing the bite marks on his neck

"Jay," Cole began, "why didn't you tell anyone you were bitten?" Cole asked. Kai and Zane saw the marks too and they gasped.

"Becaussssse—I-I didn't want to harm you," Jay said, as his tongue formed into a thin snake forked tongue. When Jay spoke, they also noticed the fangs in his mouth. Suddenly Jay grunted in pain as he clutched his skull with his hands.

"Jay?!" Kai asked with concern.

"The transssssformation is jusssst beginning, sssoon, he won't belong to you, he will be Sssserpentine—and he won't even remember you," Skales explained darkly. Kai cried angrily and wielded his Sword of Fire.

"Silence, you scaly cur!" Kai exclaimed. Kai lunged his golden sword toward Skales, but just when he was about to hit Skales; a dark green scaled, clawed fist came out of nowhere and clutched the blade before it hit Skales.

The three ninja were surprised to see Jay standing there holding the golden blade of Kai's sword and actually grinning at them. Kai took his sword away from Jay. Pythor and Skales grinned at Jay as the dark green scales on his hands began to travel up the skin on his arm, and slowly all of the skin of Jay was becoming scales.

"Jay, please don't fall to the Serpentine," Cole pleaded. Jay grunted and clutched his head again as his smile went away.

"I can't fight it—no matter what happenssss to me—tell Nya I love her," Jay said meekly, "I'm ssssorry," Jay continued, but at the last word, all of his skin was covered in scales, a long dark green tail grew from Jay's back, Jay's legs became clawed bipedal legs, and his blue eyes went thin and looked like evil snake eyes. Jay let out a small hiss before shrieking like a monster.

"We have a new warrior," Skales said to Pythor.

"Good," said Pythor, "you take care of your enemies, while Skales and I go," Pythor instructed Jay, and soon he and Skales slithered away, leaving the three ninja to battle their best friend, Jay.

Jay began to circle the ninja, and the ninja circled Jay to keep away from him. Jay whipped his tail as he scowled and growled at his used-to-be friends.

"What are we going to do, we can't fight, he's a teammate," said Cole.

"No, but we can tie him up and find a cure for him later. Lucky for us, I know how to make an ice bolo," Zane said as he grabbed out a bolo with balls made out of solid ice at the end of the rope. Zane twirled the bolo and threw it at Hay's bipedal legs. Jay couldn't dodge the bolo and the bolo quickly caught Jay's legs, and Jay fell to the ground. Jay shrieked angrily, but Cole rushed over to Jay before he could get up and put his hands together behind his back.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Serpentine chasing the samurai robot jumped from the ground and they all piled onto the robot, causing it to fall over. Pythor and Skales just caught up, and they slithered onto the chest of the robot. Pythor opened the cockpit, and hi eyes went wide but he grinned at the driver of the robot.

"Well, well, well—if it isn't the sister of the fire master," Pythor said darkly as he stared down at none other than Nya, sitting in fear in the cock pit. And she wore a metal suit that looked similar to the robot samurai.

"Yes, you are right to be afraid in my presssssence," Pythor said softly to Nya, but then he turned to the other snakes, "she's useless to me, just take the fang blade and go," Pythor demanded.

The Serpentine ripped the Silver Fang Blade from the robot's grip and soon ran out of the park with the fang blade.

"But we will meet again," Pythor whispered to Nya as he lowered a claw to Nya's bandages on her arm, and quickly ripped the bandages with his claws. Pythor chuckled and slithered away with Skales, and all of the Serpentine disappeared back down the hole. But when Pythor clawed at the bandages, Nya winced, and the bandages even slipped from her arm, revealing a pail x shaped scar engraved in her skin.

The ninja caught up to the collapsed samurai robot, and Jay's wrists were tied behind his back, and he was reluctantly walking with the ninja. Nya popped her head out of the robot and the ninja gasped to see Nya.

"Nya?!" Kai exclaimed, "you were the one that shot me with a tranquilizing dart!" Kai continued angrily. Nya got out of the robot and walked up to them.

"I know, I know, I'll explain later, look, I tried to get that fang blade from them, but they stole it back—and where's Jay?" Nya asked.

Her question was answered the hard way when jay suddenly jerked forward and snapped his jaws at Nya, but Cole was bale to hold Jay back. Fear was visible in Nya's wide eyes.

"Is that Jay?" asked Nya.

"Yup, this be your boyfriend alright," Cole replied.

"What happened?" asked Nya.

"We don't know when, but Jay must have been bitten, by the Fangpyre most likely, and he kept the bite hidden—because he said he didn't want to hurt us," Zane explained softly.

"But we're going to take him back to the Bounty and lock him up until we find a cure for him," Kai added. Nya almost began to sob softly at the sight of her loved one turned evil. But Jay noticed Nya's sad behavior, and he cocked his head as he watched her, and his thin black pupils dilated and became a little bit wider. Jay even cooed in curiosity.

* * *

Dawn was just barely beginning to crack over the horizon where Destiny's Bounty rests in the desert.

The ninja and Lloyd were asleep in the room they shared, Wu was meditating in his room, and Kate was sleeping in her bed in the room she and Nya shared, but the other bed was empty, and Nya was nowhere to be found.

But Nya was standing in the doorway that lead out to the deck. A cool desert breeze blew through the air as Nya watched a figure that was tied to the ship's mast. It was Jay.

Jay's hands were tied together b chains behind the mast as he sitting against the mast with his head practically buried in his knees. Nya closed her eyes and took in a deep breath before she opened her eyes again and slowly approached Jay. Jay could here Nya's soft footsteps on the deck, so he jerked his head up and bared his teeth. As Nya got closer; Jay only growled and glared at her. Nya stopped when she was a few feet away from Jay as he stared up at her.

"Yes, I know you're angry that I let them tie you up," Nya said and squatted down so she was at the same eye level as Jay, "and I'm sorry," Nya said softly. Jay's growling died down, and he huffed as he continued to scowl at her. Nya closed her eyes, but then she suddenly lunged herself at Jay and wrapped her arms around Jay's neck as she sobbed. Jay winced and growled again.

"You can do what you want to hurt me, or even kill me—but I won't let you go," Nya sobbed, "because I love you," Nya said as her voice began to break. What Nya just said made Jay stop growling and he looked confused. Nya took her face from Jay's shoulder and looked him in the eyes with her tear stained eyes.

"And I don't care if it will hurt—even if it'll be the last; it was still be worth it," Nya said in a shaky voice, and suddenly crashed her lips onto Jay's. Jay was taken back, but he didn't growl, he didn't glare, and he didn't pull away, he just stared wide eyed. Jay's eyes began to roll back into his head, but before his eyes were shut his black slit pupils began to grow wide again; wider than before.

Nya finally pulled away and buried her head in Jay's chest as she continued to sob. There was silence for who knows how long, and Nya and Jay didn't move. But suddenly a pale hand rose and was placed on Nya's head of short black hair. Nya noticed the feeling of a hand, and she shot back, and there sitting in front of her was Jay. But not the snake, evil Jay; the normal Jay, with no tail, scales, bipedal legs, or snake eyes. Nya began to cry tears of joy as she looked into Jay's, normal, blue eyes.

"Jay?" Nya whimpered with a smile.

"Nya," Jay began, "I love you too," Jay said softly, and he and Nya shared a big hug.

"Nya?" Kate's voice was heard, and Jay and Nya stopped hugging and turned to see Kate standing in the doorway. Nya quickly rushed to get Jay's hands free of the chains, and his no longer clawed hands soon slipped from the bundle of heavy chains. Jay and Nya stood up and walked up to Kate, who was wearing a smile on her face.

"I saw everything," Kate said softly.

"But you can't see," Jay said matter-of-factly.

"I know," Kate said as she nodded, "which is why I saw a flash again," Kate explained.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" asked Nya. Kate chuckled a bit.

"Because—l'amoiré isn't something you meddle with," Kate replied. That made Jay and Nya smile.

"Now, if' you two love birds will excuse me," Kate began as she leaned down and grabbed her bow and quiver of arrows that were resting unnoticeably on the other side of the wall, "I've got training to do," Kate said as she walked out onto the deck.

"What, this early?" asked Jay.

"Yes, this early, Jay," Wu's voice was heard from the top deck. Everyone looked up to see Wu leaning up against the rail and looking down at the main deck.

"And, it's good to have you back, Jay," Wu said with a smile.


	16. Chapter 16 - Ancient cities and training

Chapter 16 – Ancient cities and training

The sun was high in the cloudless sky in the most desolate parts of the deserts in Ninjago. But it wasn't completely empty, the entire tribes of the Serpentine and Pythor were slithering over the blazing sand.

"Ah, I love to bassssk in thisss heat—I never did favor that icy chamber we Hypnobrai were imprisssssoned in," Skales said with a smile.

"Well, that's good because we will be living here while we search for the other three fang blades," Pythor said, and then stopped slithering.

"Live where, and why are we ssstopping?" asked Skales.

"Because in this desert, known as the one and only Sea of Sand, there is a place located in the most desolate parts of this desert. And this area is said to have high enough temperatures to create a haze that shrouds and guards the area from any human that can't survive the heat—but not snakes," Pythor explained with an evil grin.

"And what, we're here?" Skales asked flatly.

"Yes, we are," Pythor replied, "fellow Serpentine, get close to me if you want to sssssee the wonders that are hidden here!" Pythor demanded, and the other tribes and tribe generals gathered around Pythor.

Pythor bent his elongated neck so it faced straight down and he shut his eyes. Pythor began to chant a soft native language. The other Serpentine exchanged confused glances at each other as they watched Pythor mumble in a native tongue. But then Pythor's chanting got louder and began to echo. Just when Pythor's chanting got really loud, he jerked his head up and jerked his eyes open as he shouted the last verse. All was quiet and nothing seemed to happen. Skales scoffed.

"What a dud," Skales said under his breath.

"I heard that," Pythor said as he shot a glare at Skales, but then his gaze softened, "but you're wrong, you just aren't as smart as the Anacondrai," Pythor said with a grin.

Pythor leaned down and scooped up a ball of sand in his claws. Pythor looked ahead of himself and suddenly threw the sand. The sand didn't even travel a few yards before it hit some invisible wall. And when the ball hit the wall, a wobbling sound was made as huge ripples were made in the air. The Serpentine, except Pythor, were staring agape at the weird wall before them.

"Vhat-isss that?" Fangtom asked.

But Fangtom's questioned was answered when the wall slowly became no longer invisible. Old brown walls made out of large and dry mud bricks were becoming visible. Soon an ancient looking city made out of mud bricks; that was huge and circular began to form right in front of the Serpentine's eyes.

"This is the lost City of Ouroboros!" Pythor announced. The Serpentine entered the many columns in the huge city. When they arrived at the very center, it looked like an arena.

They all entered a circular ancient, mud brick city, with many columns and trapezoid shaped temples. And the city had a diameter of ten miles. The Serpentine walked over a giant mud brick plat form in the center, but what got most of the attention was a statue at one end of the arena. The statue was a shrine in the shape of a snake that was almost as tall as a skyscraper. The snake head of the statue had its mouth open and four huge stone hollow fangs bared.

"Brethren, from my research, the Great Devourer is buried here, and when we find all four fang blades, all we have to do is find the switch that will set free the Great Devourer," Pythor said as he flashed an evil grin at the statue.

* * *

The ninja, Wu, Nya and Lloyd all stood on the high deck, while Kate was looking up at them from the main deck.

"Now, if I'm correct, most people would blind fold the trainees to make things harder—but how are you going to do that when I'm already blind?" asked Kate.

"Easy. Here," Wu said as he took out a pair of ear plugs and tossed them down to Kate, in which she caught, "since you already can't rely on sight, then for this training, you must not rely on hearing—only touch. Feel the movement around you," Wu explained.

Kate pushed the ear plugs into her ears, and now all was silent or muffled. Wu looked at the ninja and nodded his head. The ninja nodded back and pulled there ninja masks up and over their faces before heading down to the main deck and they all squared up on Kate. The ninja didn't have their golden weapons, instead they only had normal weapons.

Kai was first to take a step toward Kate. Kate winced when Kai took a step and reached for an arrow in her quiver. Kai noticed reaching for an arrow, so he started to do Spinjitzu again, and spun quickly right toward Kate. Kate could only hear here muffled breathing and her rapid heart beat. Kate reacted fast and moved out of Kai's way, but Kai couldn't stop, so he kept spinning until he reached the rail of the ship and fell head over the rail and onto the sand and his spinning finally stopped. But Kate was struggling to stop moving because for some reason she was spinning and wouldn't stop. As Kai managed to climb back up, he and everyone else stared agape as light pink colored streams of light began to spin around her. And soon a light pink colored Spinjitzu tornado was engulfing Kate. Kate was doing Spinjitzu. But the Spinjitzu was not to last long when Lloyd to too worried and climbed down and lunged himself at Kate; stopping Kate from more spinning.

Lloyd planted his feet firmly on the floor and clutched Kate by the shoulders as she faced him with a confused look. Kate suddenly took out her ear plugs, and the sound came back again.

"Ok, what just happened?" asked Kate.

"Kate—you just did Spinjitzu," Lloyd replied with a smile.

"Say what?" Kate asked as Lloyd let go of her and everyone approached her.

"Kate," Wu began, "you have a special elemental power like the ninja, and though we don't know what it is yet—you will learn to control it, soon," Wu explained. Kate scoffed.

"Gee, at this rate maybe Lloyd will be the Green Ninja," Kate said sarcastically.

"The who?" asked Lloyd.

"Eh, some fifth ninja in a green ninja suit that can control all four of our powers," Kai explained flatly.

"Cool," Lloyd sighed.

"But aside from that, if I have powers, than that means a girl can be strong, like Nya here. She built that Samurai X robot, and all because you boys were sexist," Kate said as she shot Nya a smile and Nya blushed.

"Yeah, and why is it called 'X'?" Cole asked with a quirked eye brow. Nya turned and pointed at the x shaped scar on her arm.

"I didn't have any other cool name in mind," Nya said with a shrug.

"Speaking of x, the Serpentine could've executed you at the amusement park," Kai pointed out, "Nya, I really wish you wouldn't put yourself in so much danger, even if you tried to help by almost getting away with the blade," Kai said as he looked at his sister firmly.

"Blade, that's it!" Cole suddenly cut in with a smile.

"What's it?" Lloyd asked.

"The Blade Cup, it's the trophy handed out to the first place winner at Ninjago Idol, and the blade that's part of the trophy cup looked a lot like the first fang blade," Cole explained.

"Which would mean it's another fang blade," Zane pointed out.

"And Pythor should be after it now," Lloyd added. Suddenly Kate sighed and cracked her neck before getting serious.

"Guys, we're going to Ninjago City," Kate said firmly, "and Lloyd—can you sing?" asked Kate.


	17. Chapter 17 - Ninjago Idol

Chapter 17 – Ninjago Idol

The sun was setting over the, oh so, large and busy Ninjago City. The ninja, Wu, Lloyd and the girls were strolling up to a large sky scraper builder with search lights swaying and casting bright light beams up into the sky. Above the doorway to the building the group was approaching had a large colorful and flashing sign that said 'Ninjago Idol.'

"Ugh, I can't believe you convinced me to sing with you," Lloyd groaned as he glared at Kate.

"Think logically here Lloyd, if we compete and win in this competition, than we will get the fang blade in the blade cup," Kate protested.

"Yeah, and nothing has a better chance of winning a T.V. broadcast and huge audience competition than a cute young couple singing a love song together," Nya explained, "you two look so cute," Nya cooed, making Lloyd and Kate look down at their outfits.

Kate was wearing a long sparkly silver dress and grey flats shoes, while Lloyd wore a black tuxedo with a yellow bow-tie and black flats shoes, and also, Kate had her brown hair curled a bit and she was wearing a sparkly flower hair burette in her hair as well. Lloyd saw the chance to look at Kate's beauty, but the moment didn't last long and Kate caught Lloyd staring.

"Lloyd your nose is bleeding," Kate simply said as she and the others just continued down the halls of the building.

"Huh?!" Lloyd exclaimed and covered his nose with his hands, but there wasn't any blood. Kate chuckled.

"Got'cha," Kate said with a smirk. Lloyd took his hands away from his face as everyone laughed and soon they went through a door that lead backstage.

Meanwhile, there were three judges observing the stage up front. Two nicely dressed grown men, and Pythor, who was wearing a black wig, sunglasses, and a beard. The two human judges gawked at Pythor.

"What?" asked Pythor, trying to keep up the act.

"Um, you don't look anything like the profile photo you e-mailed us," one of the men said.

"Oh, sorry, you know that the camera adds a few pounds; plus I had a hair cut," Pythor said with a smile and swished his wig. The man that questioned Pythor quirked an eyebrow.

"Seems legit," the man simply said.

"Idiotsss," Pythor hissed under his breath.

Suddenly a man dressed in white and had a blonde come over hair do with a microphone set on his head walked out onto the stage as the spotlights followed him.

"Welcome back everyone!" the man said in a loud and clear voice, and the crowd cheered and the camera crew was recording, "now that we're back from commercial break let's bring out our second last performance of the night—so everyone give an applause to the Treble Makers!" the man announced.

The crowd cheered as the blonde left the stage and four Serpentine, wearing wigs and sunglasses, two Hypnobrai and Fangpyre, came out and the crowd cheered. The Serpentine came out from the opposite side of the stage the ninja and the others were on as they watched the stage.

Zane was looking out and was first to notice Skales who was watching from the other side of the stage. Zane gasped and looked at the others with wide eyes.

"The Serpentine are already here—and those contestants looked most unappealing," said Zane.

"That Serpentine must have been smart enough to think of a plan to compete and win to get the blade too," said Kai.

"Then we'll knock 'em dead, right Kate?" Lloyd asked as he smirked at Kate.

"Right—because we look cute together," Kate said with a smile.

"Yeah, I know, but if people want us together then, you know…" Lloyd said seductively as he slid his arm over Kate's shoulders, much to Kate's dismay.

"Take it off, or I'll break it off," Kate said flatly. Lloyd immediately took his arm off of Kate.

"Zwitter" by Rammstein began to play loudly. The four Serpentine on stage each had a wireless microphone in their claws, and when the lyrics were to be played, the four snakes sang to lyrics. The crowd cheered, and the ninja behind the stage stared agape at the Serpentine's good singing. The human judges looked at each other and wrote down the scores, while Pythor was bobbing his head to the music and also writing down a perfect ten score.

Moments passed as the cheering got louder, and when the ending of the song approached the four snakes on stage grinned at each other and then looked at the judges. Pythor held up a perfect ten, while the other judges held up a score of seven. Once the score was revealed, everyone cheered again, and the four snakes walked off the stage as they chuckled darkly. Once again, the blonde man came out onto the stage.

"Wow, talk about rocking out—now, for the last song, we have two young contestants singing together, so please welcome to them!" the man announced and soon left the stage.

Kate took a deep breath before she and Lloyd walked gracefully out onto the stage, and the crowd cheered.

Suddenly "It Girl" by Megan Nicole and Jason Chen began to play, and Lloyd and Kate sang the lyrics together. Lloyd and Kate brought the wireless microphones to their mouths. The crowd cheered, and the two human judges smiled as they wrote down the scores, while Pythor was scowling and wrote down a score of zero. The judge noticed the score Pythor wrote down, and examined it.

When Lloyd and Kate would sing their respective parts, they would sometimes look at the audience, and at other times at each other.

The Serpentine and Skales finally noticed the ninja who were enjoying Kate and Lloyd's performance.

"The ninja are here, sssso get rid of them," Skales demanded, and the four snakes removed their wigs and sunglasses and ran behind the curtain and towards the other side of the stage where the ninja, Wu and Nya were. The four Serpentine were about halfway there when they skidded to a halt when they noticed two security guards with their backs turned toward them. So when the Serpentine saw the guards, they immediately turned around and rushed back toward Skales.

"What are you doing? I told you to attack the ninja," Skales said with anger.

"There were sssssecurity guardssssss in the way." One of the Hypnobrai answered.

"If we don't leave with the blade cup ssssoon, we'll be bussssted," a Fangpyre added.

"Jusssst shut up and don't get your tailsssss in a knot, we'll be fine," Skales said darkly as he looked out at Pythor.

Soon Kate and Lloyd's song ended, and everyone was on the edge of their seat as they waited for the judges to give the scores. The two human judges held up a score of ten, and Pythor was reluctant to hold up his score, which he didn't know was a score of ten too. Everyone cheered, and the blonde rushed up to Lloyd and Kate.

"This young couple did it folks, they're the first to get three perfect tens!" the man announced, and the crowd's cheering got louder. Pythor got confused and then he looked at the perfect ten score he didn't write down.

"What, no, I-I didn't write that!" Pythor tried to explain, but the crowd was too loud.

"Sorry, but I 'accidently' wrote on your paper," the judge sitting next to Pythor said sarcastically with a grin. Pythor growled.

The blade cup, with a golden cup with silver fang blade that had a white glow emitting from it was perched in the trophy, and it sat on the other end of the table, opposite of Pythor. The judge sitting right next to the blade cup stood up from his seat and took the blade cup with him so he could hand the trophy to the blonde man on stage.

"Congratulations!" the man said as he handed Kate the trophy, "so, who are you, young man?" the man asked Lloyd. Lloyd cleared his throat and held his microphone to his mouth.

"My name's Lloyd, sir," Lloyd said into the microphone.

"Alright Lloyd, and who's your sweetheart here, and how long have you two been dating?" the man asked as he smirked at Kate.

"O-oh, I-I'm Kate, b-but we aren't-," Kate began to say into her microphone, until Lloyd cut her off.

"We've started dating a few weeks ago, actually," Lloyd cut in, making the crowd 'aw' at Lloyd and Kate.

"Well, there you have it folks, let's hope these two will be happy together, so give 'em a round of applause, and goodnight!" the man announced, and he, Lloyd and Kate left the stage.

Lloyd and Kate were greeted by laughs and smiles by the ninja and Nya and Wu.

"You two were awesome," Jay said enthusiastically.

"Oh, and you two were so cute," Nya said while trying to hold back excitement.

"Yeah, I guess so, but Lloyd, why did you lie to them? We aren't dating and we never will be," Kate pointed out.

"Maybe, but I'm going to throw some cruel irony at you. Think logically Kate, if some day we do grow up together, maybe get married or even have kids, we could be more famous because people will remember us as the kids who won the Ninjago Idol," Lloyd explained.

"Yeah, not gonna happen," Kate said flatly, "but hey, if I ever have a flash of you with a love life, I'll keep you updated," Kate said with a smile. Lloyd scoffed.

"Gee, thanks," Lloyd said sarcastically.

"In any other case—we have a Fang Blade, and one fang blade is all we need to stop Pythor," Wu pointed out.

"Right, so we better keep this thing under lock and key," said Kai as Kate handed him the blade cup.

"So, you are the two lucky kids, huh?" a grown man's voice was heard.

Everyone turned to see a man with dark grey hair in a comb over and had a small black mustache, big bushy black eye brows and brown eyes; it was the judge that sat next to Pythor.

"Dad?" Cole said as he smiled at the man.

"Yes, Cole it's me," the man said as he approached his son, Cole. Cole and his dad shared a quick hug.

"Guys, this is my old man, Lou," Cole introduced Lou to the others.

"You were a judge?" asked Lloyd.

"Yes I was; when I was younger, I was a famous singer and dancer," said Lou.

"Oh yeah, I knew you looked familiar, I have some of your CDs. You were the Royal Blacksmiths, right?" Nya asked with a smile.

"Yup, and I was always the lead dancer and singer of my quartette," Lou replied, "and all of you are lucky I saw these two kids come in with you, Cole, or I never would've made it look like that—weird—looking judge gave you a perfect ten score," Lou explained with a smirk.

"Well, thank you, Lou," Kate said with a smile.

"You're welcome, and one more question—are you two actually dating?" asked Lou Kate and Lloyd.

"Yes!"

"No."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Lou sighed.

"Yes, assss did I," said a familiar charming voice.

Everyone turned and scowled to find Pythor backstage, no longer in his disguise, and was grinning at them and only standing a few yards away from them.

"And, you know Lloyd—I think I see wedding bells in your future," Pythor said sarcastically as he looked at Lloyd and Kate. Lloyd and Kate shudder.

"You will not be getting this fang blade," Wu said firmly.

"Oh, we'll ssssee about that," Pythor said darkly, and then looked up. Cole was first to follow Pythor's gaze and his eyes went wide when he saw a Fangpyre and a Hypnobrai cutting the ropes of heavy props and sandbags that were hanging above the backstage. Cole looked back down to realize the Serpentine were going to drop everything on everyone.

"Guys, it's a trap!" Cole exclaimed, but right then the ropes snapped.

Things slowed down and went silent as the heavy props and sandbags began to falls. Everyone finally looked up and saw the heavy load about to drop on them, so they all scurried away. When everything landed, things sped up again and the sound returned.

But Lou was last to get away, and suddenly a big sandbag came down and crushed Lou's foot with a loud THUD.

"Ahhh!" Lou exclaimed in pain as his legs gave out and he dropped to his knees. But at the same time, another rope that was holding up a piano was just cut, and it was falling right towards Lou.

"Dad, no!" Cole shouted and rushed to his dad's side.

Everyone watched wide eyed as Cole's stepped underneath the piano's path. Everyone closed their eyes just before the sound of the piano landing. But seconds later there was silence. Everyone opened their eyes again to see a miracle; Cole and Lou weren't crushed and the piano wasn't in pieces because Cole had caught the piano and he was grunting as he held the heavy instrument on his own. Lou looked at his son with wide eyes. Cole slowly turned until he was facing Pythor, who was also staring wide eyed at Cole.

"Oh dear," Pythor sighed as he began to slither backwards.

"You're dead," Cole grunted, and then used all his might to throw the piano in Pythor's direction with one big and loud grunt. Pythor suddenly turned invisible just before the piano could reach him, and soon the piano landed and broke apart as it slid into the wall.

"Aw crap, I forgot he could turn invisible, he could be anywhere," Lloyd said with concern. Everyone went quiet and looked around.

"Right-o," Pythor's voice was heard behind Kai, who was holding the blade cup. Pythor suddenly appeared behind Kai and snatched the trophy from Kai.

"Thank you," Pythor said darkly as he grinned at the trophy. Suddenly a group of security guards ran in and they weren't happy about the mess back stage.

"Hey, what happened back here?!" a guard asked in anger. Everyone looked back to where Pythor once was, only to find him and the trophy gone, and they even looked up where the other Serpentine were dropping props and they were gone too.


	18. Chapter 18 - Kidnapped

Chapter 18 – Kidnapped

It was still dark as the ninja, the girls, Wu and Lloyd were now back at Destiny's Bounty, but they were all sulking as they barely ate dinner.

"Dang it, this ain't good. Who knows how many chances we have left to stop the Serpentine?" asked Kate.

"Two. My computers tell me there are only four Silver Fang Blades. And since Pythor only has two, then that gives us two more chances left—and those chances are slim," Zane pointed out.

"Aw, this is all my fault. And because of my failure I got seven people roped into my problems," Lloyd sighed.

"Thank you, Sir-Admits-A-lot," Jay said sarcastically.

"Is it natural to feel bummed when you're in such a cute dress?" Kate asked sadly as she looked down at the dress she was still wearing from the contest. Nya put a reassuring hand on Kate's shoulder.

"Why would you ask that? I think you always look hot in the first place," Lloyd said seductively at Kate.

"Don't patronize me. Remember, you're still the one at fault here," Kate said grimly.

"Right now, we need to forget about each other's soap operas and worry about the Serpentine. Do you know what will happen if Pythor succeeds?" Wu asked firmly.

"No, we have no clue here. We're just sitting in the dark," Jay simply replied.

"If those vial snakes are successful then they will use the blades to set free their mighty snake god: The Great Devourer," said Wu.

"The Great what-now?" asked Lloyd, with a quirked eyebrow.

"The Great Devourer—and the very same snake that took away the opportunities for your father to live a good life, Lloyd," Wu replied.

"My dad?" asked Lloyd.

"Yes. The brother I knew wasn't always the way he is now. Back when Garmadon and I were young boys, we played together at the monastery by playing with our father's katana secretly. But when I lost my katana over the monastery wall, I knew it wasn't a good idea to go outside the wall, and I also knew I would get in trouble with my father. So Garmadon was the one to retrieve the katana blade. And when he went to get it, he was bitten by the Great Devourer: a powerful serpent that will always grow the more it consumes. It was hours until my father found Garmadon, and by the time he did, the venom had already begun to turn Garmadon in a twisted way. Many, many years later, just before Lloyd was born, Garmadon finally snapped, and was sent to the Under World," Wu explained with sorrow.

Everyone was pondering this, while Lloyd looked down with a sad look on his face when being reminded of his dad. But that's when Kate's eyes sparkled again and she shivered. Everyone looked at Kate.

"What'd you see now, Kate?" Kai asked firmly. Kate inhaled and exhaled as she rolled her eyes back into her head to relax. Kate took in one big breath before responding.

"I know how we can find the Green Ninja, and we won't need to search for him—because he's in this room," Kate said as she looked around at everyone. Everyone was silent.

"Yes! There is a possibility that I'm the greatest ninja!" Jay exclaimed happily. Cole put his hands together and gazed up.

"Please, don't let it be Zap-Trap," Cole prayed.

"I am thinking the same, Kate. I've known how to find the Green Ninja this whole time. But I guess now, tensions are rising too high. We need the Golden weapons. When the four weapons are united around the destined one, we will know," Wu explained.

"Well, what are we standing around here for?" Kai cut in.

Everyone stood up and began to descend down to the deck and into the ship's cabin. Lloyd and Kate were in back, so when they heard all of the dragons beginning to roar in distress, Lloyd and Kate were the only one's to stop, while the others continued.

"What's up with the dragons?" asked Lloyd.

"I don't know," Kate mumbled.

But right behind the two kids, blacks scaled covered clawed hands slowly reached for their necks. But it was too late. As soon as the hands grabbed their necks, Lloyd and Kate shrieked, and everything went dark and silent.


	19. Chapter 19 - Imprisoned by your past

Chapter 19 – Imprisoned by your past

Kate slowly began to open her eyes. But when her eyes came into focus again, she gasped.

She was sitting in a large stone room with a few lit torches on the walls. Kate looked to her right and found a set of prison bars that led to another prison cell, and in the cell was a black lump.

"Lloyd?" Kate asked as she squinted at the figure in the other cell.

Though Kate didn't know it yet, she had heavy shackles on her wrists, and she was immobilized since the chains were engraved in the wall she was sitting against.

The lump began to move, and soon Lloyd's blond bowl-cut hair-do appeared as Lloyd sat up.

"What just happened?" Lloyd groaned, but his eyes widened when he saw Kate, "Kate!" Lloyd shouted.

"Shh!" Kate snapped, "what ever kidnapped us will hear us, so pipe down," Kate whispered harshly. Kate struggled to move, and that's when she realized the shackles and her eyes widened. Kate looked over at Lloyd as he stood up; there were no chains to weigh him down, he was free to move among his cell. Kate got confused, but suddenly the prison door to Kate's cell creaked open. Lloyd gripped the bars as he tried to see, and Kate was wide eyed. Suddenly Pythor and Fangtom slithered in, both with a devilish smile.

"Ssssorry if I had to knock you two bratsss unconscioussss—didn't want you ruining your kidnapping," Pythor said darkly as he slithered closer to Kate, but Fangtom remained by the door.

"Certainly not," Kate began sarcastically, "and why is he here?" Kate asked as she looked at Fangtom, "and why would you put shackles on me when Lloyd's the 'problem child' being the son of Lord Garmadon?" Kate asked with air-quotes.

"Oh, shut up and let me explain!" Pythor snapped and cleared his throat, "he's here for other reasonsss—but I made you immobilized because you know who you are—and so do I," Pythor said with a grin.

"Kate, what's he talking about?" Lloyd asked worriedly.

"You zip it, little whore!" Pythor hissed. Lloyd was taken back and angry at the same time, "now as I was ssssaying—I will not give all the answers, but whatever is said, musssst not be repeated. Kate, my dear, you're like a niece to me, since I knew your parents, and all," as Pythor spoke, Kate got more angry, "and I know you were taken from your family—all because of your father…" Pythor explained and his voice trailed off, long enough for Kate to snap.

"Stop, don't go any further! I don't want to talk about my past," Kate said as she was on the verge of tears.

"Hmm, you seem to have your father's ssstuborness, I like that—but maybe I should stop. Maybe Lloyd is willing to take in your sorry story. And Maybe you should explain it to him," Pythor explained, and turned to leave the cell, but then he stopped and leaned towards one Fangtom's heads, "when she stops yapping—kill her," Pythor whispered, and then left as Fangtom just stood there.

"Vell-get on vith it-vee don't have-our whole livessss," said Fangtom. At that moment Kate closed her eyes and hung her head as a single tear dripped from her eye.

"Kate, please tell me. Tell me what Pythor's talking about," Lloyd pleaded softly as he sat down on the cell floor.

"Usually, I would tell you not to listen to someone like Pythor, but this time you should—whatever is said cannot be repeated," Kate said in a shaky but firm voice. Lloyd inched closer to the bars and nodded. Kate sighed.

"I wouldn't be surprised if there's a bounty on me. It's like what Pythor said, it's all because of my dad. When he was young, he was captured by the Serpentine, before they were locked up, and he pleaded them for his freedom. But being the sleazy creatures they are, they told him they wouldn't hurt him if he sided with them, and so he did. As the Serpentine Wars were approaching, the time my dad spent with the snakes began to change his heart and his mind in a twisted way. After the war was done, and the snakes defeated and locked away, my dad was the only one to escape, but he went into a horrible grief. It wasn't until then he realized everything he lost: his family, friends, his famous career. Everyone used to love him, but now everyone wanted to kill him. So he tried to hide away with his childhood friend, or in this case, my mother. And when he found her again, they finally acted upon their love," Kate explained.

"What? You mean you're dad proposed, or…?" Lloyd cut in with a raised eyebrow, but Kate looked at Lloyd with a dull face, "oh," Lloyd said flatly.

"Yes, and when my dad found out about my mom's pregnancy, thing's just got worse for him, because he knew a life he helped bring into this world would suffer because of him. And when I was born, my dad couldn't show his face in public, meaning he couldn't call nine-one-one when my mom went into labor. So my mom died after I was born. After a few years, the government heard about my birth and wanted me. So, when they knew my dad was vulnerable having to watch over his five year old daughter, they found him, and literally snatched me from his arms and I never saw him again. But I managed to escape from their clutches and lived my life alone since then," Kate explained as more tears rolled down her face, "I don't even know I he's still alive anymore," Kate sobbed.

Lloyd looked down in sorrow, but then he looked back up at Kate.

"Kate, I know what it's like to not know your mom, and be forced to love the only parent you actually remember. And I'm sorry," Lloyd said sadly.

"It's ok. I guess it's good to know there are people who can relate to these kinds of problems," Kate sniffled.

"No, not just that, I'm sorry for letting the Serpentine loose, and for being so stupid to think I could become my dad. He never had a chance to choose his own path, but I do, and I realize that now. Thanks to you," Lloyd said softly, "but it's all thanks to me that we're in this mess," Lloyd sighed.

"Yesss-but your problemssss-vill sssoon end-becausssse Pythor asssked me-to make your problems go avay-for good," Fangtom said darkly as he slowly dragged a claw horizontally across his two necks. Making Kate and Lloyd panic.

"Kate, no!" Lloyd shouted as he struggled to fit an arm through the bars towards Kate.

"Shut up or-I'll kill you firssst!" Fangtom snapped. Lloyd pulled his arm back through and took a few steps backwards. "Kate-did your father-ever tell you-how ssstrong-a Fangpyre's-biting force is? Vee have a biting force-of twenty thousand pounds-per square inch. That'ssss ten timesss sssstronger-than a bull dog," Fangtom explained as he slithered closer to Kate. Kate's eyes went wide when she heard this. And she looked at her shackles and back at Fangtom.

"Ok. Prove it, then," Kate said as she grinned.

"Oh, I'll prove it to you-little child," Fangtom whispered angrily and suddenly lunged at Kate with his long, white fangs bared and claws out.

Things went silent and slowed down as Fangtom traveled through the air. But Kate jerked herself to one side as one of the heads was just about to bite her. This resulted in one of Fangtom's heads biting with a lot of force onto one of the chains holding Kate. Fangtom bit the chains so hard, that both the chain, and the head's fangs broke and shattered.

Things sped up and sound returned as Kate was free and Fangtom gripped the head with the deformed fangs with his claws in pain. Fangtom was so busy groaning, he didn't notice Kate stand up, and get at a good enough angle to karate kick him in both heads, knocking the two headed red general unconscious. Lloyd was shocked as he stood up and gawked at Kate. As Lloyd gawked, Kate pulled on the chains to break free, and soon enough the shackle on Kate's other wrist broke, and she headed for the bars between her and Lloyd.

"Ugh, how the heck am I supposed to get you out of here?" Kate grunted as she griped the bars and pulled.

"You have the option to ditch me. But you won't, will you?" Lloyd asked sheepishly.

"I'm afraid that'sssss imposssssible," a deep male voice hissed. Lloyd and Kate looked at the door to Kate's cell and saw Slithraa, who was no longer general, and he had blood stained bandages wrapped around his snout from when Skales kicked him, causing Slithraa to lose a fang.

"Slithraa?" Lloyd questioned.

"Yessss, Lloyd. I may have losssst place of general, but you are ssstill my masssster. Ssso I will help you and your friend esssscape," Slithraa said as he walked up to the bars next to Kate. There was actually a barred door in the bars, and it had a lock, and Slithraa bright an old and rusted key with him. So Slithraa slid the key into the key hole, unlocked the door, and let Lloyd into Kate's cell.

"What was that you said? About it being impossible for Kate to leave me?" Lloyd questioned.

"I hate to give you such newsss, Masssster Lloyd, but Pythor hassss enchanted you both with magic shacklessssss," Slithraa said with sorrow.

"What shackles?" asked Kate. When suddenly necklaces appeared around both Lloyd and Kate's necks, "oh," Kate said flatly as she and Lloyd looked down at their necklaces.

The necklaces were quite unusual. They were shaped like a small, slim snake's body, and they were made out of shiny and finely cut black crystal. They had snake heads with open mouths and bared fangs, and their bodies and tails spiraled up and around Lloyd and Kate's necks. Lloyd's necklace was slightly more buff than Kate's and rested on the right side of Lloyd's collar bone. While Kate's necklace was slimmer, and rested on the left side of her collar bone, resulting in the snakes mouths facing each other. But the strangest thing to come out of his was that a purple colored electrical lines shot out from the necklaces and they intertwined with each other, ad the purple line lead out of the cell and into the hall outside.

"What the heck are these things, and what is that line for?" Lloyd asked as he started to panic.

"I'll explain, but firsssssst you two mussssst follow me," Slithraa whispered. And with that Slithraa, Lloyd and Kate snuck out of the cell and into the hall, and they soon came to door that lead to outside. And it was still dark out, by the looks of it. They got to the door, and looked out at the center plaza of the City of Ouroboros. And near the outer edge of the arena was a large stone, and the purple lines from Lloyd and Kate's necklaces was attached to the large rock.

"Ssssee that rock over there? That'ssss what isss meant to keep you two from esssscaping the city. But with my help, I could break the force, and you two could run. But there isss sssstill one little flaw," Slithraa explained.

"What 'one little flaw'?" Kate asked with air-quotes.

"I'm afraid that after I break the force keeping you connected to the rock, you will be free, but the necklacessss will connect with each other, ssssso you won't be able to go within one hundred feet away from each other. Or elsssse a magnetic force will only pull you back together. Assss long assss you wear thossssse, you'll be stuck together," Slithraa explained.

"Is there any way to get them off?" asked Lloyd.

"I don't know. Pythor'ssssss kind made thesssse magical objectssss. And sssssince Pythor isss the lassst of hissss kind, he'ssss the only one that would know more about them. And he certainly won't tell usssss about thessse ssssstrange necklacesssss," Slithraa replied.

"Aw man. As long as we don't get answers from Pythor, we're stuck with each other. You might as well just make us the last two humans on Earth," Kate whined.

"That'sssss not important. I need you two to sssstay here, while I go and desssstroy the force keeping you two imprisoned here," Slithraa demanded. With that, Slithraa ran off and towards the large rock that had the purple rays connected to it. Lloyd and Kate watched as Slithraa snuck passed random Serpentine that happened to pass by.

When Slithraa reached the rock, he examined it and the electrical rays. But Slithraa soon noticed a wooden lever in the wall next to the rock. Slithraa gripped the lever and flipped it down. As Slithraa let go of the lever, cracking sounds were made as a sudden metal shield that was buried beneath the sand rose and slowly went up and over the entire rock. When the metal rose as far as it could, the ray was blocked so it disappeared from the rock, but that only made the rays continue to stay connected with each other, as Lloyd and Kate were still stuck together.

"Go now! While you sssssstill have the chance!" Slithraa shouted back as he turned back to look at Lloyd and Kate.

Lloyd and Kate looked at each other before Lloyd gripped Kate's hand and they left the building they were once imprisoned in and ran down the maze like city, toward the desert.

Slithraa stared in the direction Lloyd and Kate went, even after they were out of sight. But suddenly an arrow head pierced Slithraa's neck. Blood seeped from the wound as Slithraa was gasping for breath. Slithraa took one last raspy breath and collapsed dead. But in the direction the arrow was shot from, behind Slithraa, Pythor stood there with a bow, and he was standing there as if he just shot the arrow. And the bow Pythor was holding was Kate's bow.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lloyd and Kate ran and ran through the mud-brick maze until they finally reached the outside. They both stopped and let go of their hands to catch a breath.

"You know…if I had to be stuck…with anyone…for the rest of my life…" Lloyd said between breaths, "I'm glad it's you," Lloyd finished with a smile.

"Gee, that's romantic," Kate began sarcastically, "but by the time I have kids with you, is when the Serpentine will be on our side," Kate continued.

"Hey, I'm not comfortable with this either, but it's like what Slithraa said: we can't move too far away or we'll only hold each other back. Until we get these things off, we'll have to work in unison, alright?" Lloyd said firmly, "now, let's head back to the bounty," Lloyd said in a softer tone, and turned to walk into the desert. Kate glared at Lloyd for a moment before she sighed and rolled her eyes and followed Lloyd.

"By the way—thank you," Kate thanked softly, "for—for listening to what I had to say. It takes a true and strong person to comprehend events and knowledge like this," Kate continued as she walked next to Lloyd, and they looked into each other's eyes.

"No prob. If we're going to be stuck together for a while, we might as well make good communication," Lloyd reasoned, "but one thing still perplexes me. Which way is the Bounty?" Lloyd asked as he looked over the desert ahead of him. Kate thought for a moment, and then her eyes widened.

"I got it. The front of the Bounty always faces the sunset; which means it faces away from the sunrise," Kate explained as she smiled.

"So?" asked Lloyd.

"So look," Kate said as she pointed a finger toward dawn; which was creeping over the horizon in the direction of the City of Ouroboros, "this means the Bounty is that way," Kate said as she pointed directly away from the city and the sunrise.

"Yeah, but how far that way?" Lloyd asked with worry.

"I don't know," Kate simply replied. But then Lloyd noticed something.

"Hey Kate, where's your bow and arrows?" asked Lloyd. Kate's eyes widened as she jerked her head around to look at her back, but she found no bow and no quiver of arrows.

"Aw, come on. I don't think we'll survive without a weapon," Kate groaned.

"That's not very reassuring," Lloyd simply pointed out, but then he sighed, "but Lady Luck is still with us," Lloyd continued.

"What do you mean?" asked Kate. Lloyd didn't reply as he reached behind him and pulled put a small gun, and then held it out to Kate.

"It's full with as many bullets as it can hold. If you can aim with a bow and arrow, then you can aim with a gun," Lloyd said as Kate took the gun in her hands.

"Where did you get a gun?" Kate asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Really? I was raised in a boarding school that taught everything bad, and you're wondering where I got a gun?" Lloyd asked with a dull look.

"Whatever, let's just go," Kate sighed as she walked away. Lloyd chuckled and walked up beside Kate.

"You know Kate, there is something about you that's very important and that I don't know about," said Lloyd.

"Yeah, that's why I didn't tell you everything," Kate cut in.

"But the point being is that your future will rely on your specialty," Lloyd continued.

"It certainly won't rely on you," Kate mumbled.

"I don't know. I think I can already feel myself getting under your skin," Lloyd said with a grin, and Kate glared back.


	20. Chapter 20 - I found you

Chapter 20 – I found you

The sun was just barely up over the Bounty. The old grounded ship was quiet, until a stray door slowly creaked open; destroying the silent halls. Wu was the one to emerge from behind the door with his staff in hand. But Wu barely made a sound as he made his way towards the main deck. It wasn't until Wu had just exited the ships cabin that he was interrupted.

"What are you doing, Sensei?" Kai's voice yawned. Wu calmly turned and looked at Kai who was standing sleepily.

"I am simply going to find a friend. A friend that may want to help us rescue Lloyd and Kate," Wu replied.

"And who is this friend?" asked Kai.

"An old one of mine," Wu said sadly, "but that doesn't concern you, for now. Go back to sleep; I'll return soon," Wu said as he suddenly perked up, but just a bit. Kai yawned and turned to head back into the ship's cabin.

"Safe travels," Kai said groggily as he walked away. And Wu turned and sighed as he walked off the ship. Wu walked a great distance away from the ship until he stopped. Wu looked around before he grabbed out a packet of tea, and it had a label on it that read 'Travelers' tea'. Wu opened the packet and turned it upside down so that the tea leaves would spill all over him. He lifted it above his head and let the tea leaves sprinkle all over his face as he leaned his face upward. As soon as the leaves hit his skin they burst into tiny blue flames, but they didn't seem to hurt Wu as the flames multiplied and connected with each other. Pretty soon Wu's entire body was engulfed in blue flames, but suddenly his body burst into ashes and he was gone as the desert winds blew out the remaining flames.

* * *

The sun was much higher in the sky by the time Lloyd and Kate could barely see the Bounty and the dragons far in the distance.

"Well, at least I didn't have to use a bullet on our way back," Kate sighed a she looked at the gun in her hand.

"I kinda wish you did. Why didn't kill that desert fox?" Lloyd asked angrily.

"It was just a baby," Kate protested.

"So what? If I'd gotten any closer to the animal I would've thought it was a dessert fox," said Lloyd.

"You're such a baby," Kate scoffed.

"I am not!" Lloyd snapped.

"Yes, you are," Kate said back in a sing-song voice.

"No. I'm. Not!" Lloyd said loudly and slowly as he balled up a fist, and out of the blue his fist caught fire. Kate gasped at the red and orange flames dancing on Lloyd's fist, but Lloyd didn't notice at first as he scowled at Kate. But then Lloyd noticed Kate's gaze and followed it slowly, and when his eyes landed on his magical flaming fist, he screamed.

"Ah! Put it out! Put it out!" Lloyd shrieked as he jumped around and flared his flaming hand around. Kate stood there with a dull look on her face, and she suddenly grabbed Lloyd's wrist with the flaming hand and that took Lloyd by surprise, so he fell while his wrist was still held up in the air by Kate. Kate breathed in some air and shot a spit wad at Lloyd's fist; putting the fire out.

"Ew," Lloyd said with a cringed face as he stood back up and Kate let go of his slimy hand.

"Hey, it was either that, or I could've amputated your hand," Kate simply said, making Lloyd's eyes go wide as he clasped his said hand, "like I said: a baby," Kate continued and simply kept walked toward Destiny's Bounty. Lloyd ignored what Kate said and stared at his hand as he caught up to Kate.

"Why did my hand catch on fire?" asked Lloyd.

"Now that I think about it, yeah. Isn't Kai supposed to be the master of fire?" Kate said with realization.

"This whole 'fire catching' thing is very new to me," said Lloyd.

"You don't say," Kate said sarcastically.

* * *

Cole and Kai were in the computer room, using the giant computer to play Call of Duty, and Zane was just sitting in another seat polishing his golden Shurikans of ice. But suddenly Jay walked in, and he wasn't amused.

"What the-?! My precious baby is not a video game console!" Jay shouted with worry as he rushed in front of his 'precious' computer and jerked Kai and Cole's Play Station remotes' wires out of the console.

"Aw!" both Kai and Cole groaned and glared at Jay, and Cole flipped Jay off.

But as the obnoxious boys in the ninja team made each other mad, Zane continued to polish his golden weapon, until he noticed they started to shake in his hands and even gave off a slight green glow.

"What?" Zane said with wide eyes as he gawked at his weapon. But suddenly the sound of a gun being cocked was heard, making everyone freeze and stay silent. The boys turned slowly to look at the door way, when suddenly Kate hopped into the door way with the gun pointed in the room.

"Kate?" the boys said in unison. Kate's eyes went wide and she put the gun down just as Lloyd appeared behind her, "Lloyd?" the ninja said with surprise once more.

"You guys are ok, thank goodness. We thought that if the Serpentine kidnapped us, they must've taken the ship afterwards," Kate explained as she smiled.

"Wait, you two were captured by the Serpentine?" Cole questioned.

"Yeah, and they took us to some huge ancient city out in the desert," Lloyd replied.

"Ouroboros," Zane said out of the blue, making everyone give Zane questioning looks, "the City of Ouroboros was the ancient city in which the Serpentine inhabited during the Serpentine Wars long ago," Zane explained. Kai suddenly noticed something different about Kate and Lloyd.

"Uh, Lloyd? Kate? What are those things on your necks?" asked Kai. Lloyd and Kate followed Kai's gaze and looked down at each others' necks only to find the enchanted necklaces bestowed on them have appeared, as well as the magnetic purple line.

"Pythor planned on making it impossible for us to escape the city. So he put these magical necklaces, ones that only he knows about, on us," Kate explained.

"But Slithraa helped us escape. But not without the fact that we don't know how to take these things off and until then, we're stuck together due to a magnetic force," Lloyd explained. Jay snickered.

"Oh, you don't know how bad this looks. You two are at each other's throats, and now you're being held together by the throat," Jay said while laughing.

"Interestingly, he's right," Zane pointed out, "and I'm sorry to say my computer data has no information on how to take the necklaces off either. But what my knowledge does know is this: if the possessor of this necklace is unaware of its partner's whereabouts; this necklace will help find it," Zane said firmly.

"Yeah, by dragging us down together," Kate mumbled.

"Where's Uncle Wu?" Lloyd said as he noticed his uncle was nowhere to be found.

"Kai said he went to go get some friend in hope of finding you two. Guess he left for nothing," Nya said as she suddenly walked in the room and joined the conversation.

"Wait a minute. Boys, get your golden weapons, now," Zane demanded as he eyes widened. Afterwards Kai, Cole and Jay, and Zane too, grabbed out their golden weapons and placed them together on the table in the room.

"What are you getting at, Nindroid?" asked Jay.

"If I remember correctly, before we noticed Kate and Lloyd were gone, Wu said that all four of the golden weapons will give off a sign when in presence of the Green Ninja. Just a moment ago my Shurikans had a weird reaction; possibly when Lloyd and Kate had just came back," Zane explained, and as if to prove his point, all four of the weapons began to let off a green glow, just like Zane said.

"But, that would mean…" Lloyd began until his voice trailed off.

"One of you could be the Green Ninja of Creation," Nya said as she looked at Lloyd and Kate. Though no one noticed, Kate sighed and closed her eyes as she stepped back, leaving Lloyd more exposed to the golden weapons. And just as Kate did so, the weapons glowed brighter and suddenly began to float around Lloyd. Lloyd was taken back by this. Kate sighed a happy sigh as she smiled and put a hand on Lloyd's shoulder, causing Lloyd to lose interest in the floating weapons around him. Lloyd looking away apparently had an affect on the weapons, so they each stopped glowing and dropped to the floor with a loud CLANK.

"I knew it was you. And you're very worthy, Montgomery," Kate said softly, making Lloyd smile at her. But Kate wasn't expecting Lloyd to suddenly just hug her, but Kate hugged back eventually. The ninja team and Nya smiled at Lloyd and Kate's embrace. But no one paid attention to the fact that the magic necklaces on Lloyd and Kate's necks went away once more, but they also quickly shimmered a bright white light before out of sight.

* * *

In a land where it seemed to be always dark, and the moon was low but blood red, there was a lump on the dark yet rich soil. The lump began to emerge from the dirt it was covered in, and it was actually Wu. But Wu was still intact, he had his sun hat and staff as he stood up proudly.

"Is this the dark land he came to?" Wu asked himself sadly. Wu walked forward as he saw many huge shadows of mountains, and he could hear distant thunder rumbling. But Wu didn't notice the familiar shaped shadowy figure a few yards behind him.

"It is, and it was the place I chose to come to," an evil and familiar male voice said. Wu's eyes widened as he turned and found Garmadon standing there. Garmadon looked different. Now Garmadon looked a tad more buff and even wore armor over his torso and back.

"Garmadon," Wu said, and Garmadon heard him.

"You know, for a sad old man, you have good memory. But it's too bad that will go to waste, little brother," said Garmadon, and he laughed darkly, "and during my short time here I've grown—much stronger," Garmadon continued as another pair of arms unfolded. Garmadon now had four arms just like Samukai.

"Garmadon, please, hear me out. I'm not the one that needs help, but I want to help you," Wu pleaded.

"Why would I want help, and any from you, at that?" Garmadon questioned angrily.

"It's L-," Wu began but the sound of horrible and muffled shrieks were heard. And soon the muddy grounds Wu was standing on, that he didn't notice before, began to move unnaturally.

"Yes! Feed my pets! Leave nothing of him left!" Garmadon cheered to the mud as the mud formed into giant mud blob creatures with arms, a mouth and large buggy eyes, and they towered over and surrounded Wu.

"No, Garmadon. I was trying to say…" Wu tried to call to Garmadon, but the mud creatures began to drown Wu in their massive mud bodies, "Lloyd's in danger!" Wu shouted just before he pulled farther into the mud. This made Garmadon's red eyes widened as he gasped.

"My son," Garmadon said to himself, and suddenly rushed to Wu's aid. Garmadon used all of his strength to pull Wu out of the mud, and onto dry land, where the mud creatures could not go, so they returned back to their muddy home. "If there's one thing mud doesn't like, it's drying out," Garmadon said, and then looked Wu in the eyes, "what happened to Lloyd?" Garmadon questioned.

"Pythor and the other Serpentine have gotten loose and have reunited. And they kidnapped Lloyd and Kate," said Wu.

"Impossible. Those tombs we locked them up in were to be sealed forever, how did this happen?" Garmadon said angrily.

"Your son happened," Wu replied sadly. Garmadon sighed.

"I never wanted my son to be like me," said Garmadon.

"I know, but he's learned. And right now he needs his dad," Wu said reassuringly. Garmadon began to nod.

"If we hurry we can get to the distant Mountains of Madness before it gets really dark, so we'll have a safe journey," said Garmadon as he looked off into the horizon toward the highest mountain ranges.

"Why wouldn't it be safe?" Wu questioned as he and Garmadon began walking.

"It may seem dark now, but when the moon goes down it gets much darker than this," said Garmadon.

"How could it get darker than this?" Wu asked as he looked around.

"Brother, this place is as dangerous as the Under World in which I use to live, so more dangerous creatures will dwell here too. And they certainly don't miss a meal. That being said, we must travel quickly and subtle like," Garmadon explained.


	21. Chapter 21 - A volcano battle

Chapter 21 – A volcano battle

After Lloyd discovered he was the Green Ninja, he decided to go out to the deck and work out. Lloyd was doing push-ups, but to make it harder for him Kate laid back first against Lloyd's back as he tried to do his push-ups.

"How does a sweet body like yours weigh this much?" Lloyd huffed.

"Hey, you were the one that wanted to push your limits when you found out you had all the power of the fifth ninja, and you were also the one that wanted my help," Kate protested as she kept herself balanced on Lloyd.

"You know the saying 'if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all'?" Lloyd asked with a bit of sarcasm.

"Yeah, I know the saying. But the least I could do was help you; especially since I envy you," Kate sneered, but then her eyes went wide when she heard what she just said, "what?" Kate questioned.

"What?" Lloyd asked as well but also as his arms finally gave out and his body plopped down to the floor. Kate lost her balance and she fell off of Lloyd. The two quickly sat up and looked at each other with a dazed expression.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," Lloyd said rapidly, "you're jealous of me—for being the Green Ninja?" Lloyd asked as a smile slowly crept onto his face. Kate was getting nervous as she tried to speak, but no words would come out. "You're crushing on me, aren't you?"

"Uh..."

"Ha! I knew I was getting under your skin!" Lloyd exclaimed happily. Kate sighed and surprisingly smiled.

"Alright, alright, so—I admit you did manage to make me fall for you...but don't take this too far," Kate said with a grin.

"Too far is the only way it's gonna go," Lloyd scoffed.

"Guys!" Kai's voice interrupted Kate and Lloyd's little moment, so the two looked up at the higher deck to find Kai looking down at them with a worried look, "you're gonna want to see this," said Kai.

Once Kai led Lloyd and Kate to the computer room, where everyone else was, they all looked up at the giant computer monitor to find a the image of a nearly erupting volcano.

"What is it?" asked Kate.

"Jay and I programmed the hawk to be our look out for any danger, and it stumbled upon Serpentine activity inside this volcano," said Zane.

"Why a volcano?" asked Lloyd.

"We believe there is another fang blade hidden there, and if they get it then they will have three of the four blades," Cole explained.

"Men—and girls—we gotta quit waiting for things like this to happen. Nya, you take you Samurai-X suit while we ninja will take the dragons," Kai said firmly.

"What about Lloyd and I?" Kate questioned.

"You don't have very much training, Kate. And Lloyd, you're the chosen fifth ninja; we can't take any risks with you, so you two are staying here," Kai replied.

"But we'll give the hawk a message to deliver to you incase," Nya added.

"Incase of what?" asked Lloyd.

"We'll talk about it later, but we need to go," Jay cut in.

The four ninja and Nya fled the computer room and ran out onto the deck and eventually off the ship. The boys did Spinjitzu and they were dressed in their ninja suits and pulled their ninja masks over their faces and they had their golden weapons bared. While Nya ran back behind the ship where her Samurai X robot suit was hidden. Nya jumped in, turned it on and she was then in control. The ninja rode their dragons as Nya activated the rocket boots on her robot and they fled into the horizon. But the whole time Lloyd and Kate watched as they left, and the they looked at their dragons, Titan and Hope, as the sibling dragons rest there with nothing to do.

"You wanna be someone who made a difference in the world?" asked Lloyd.

"Yeah, why?" Kate asked.

"Follow me," Lloyd replied as he grabbed Kate's hand and they ran into the ship's cabin and eventually came to the ninja's room. Kate face cringed up when she entered the room.

"Ugh, what is it with you men and B.O.?" Kate asked angrily. But Lloyd ignored her and rushed over to his bed, and he lifted up his mattress. Kate walked up to Lloyd's bed and her eyes went wide at what she saw under Lloyd's mattress.

* * *

As the ninja rode their dragons and Nya drove her Samurai X robot through the skies as they all approached their destination: a volcano.

"We must use our golden weapons with caution in there. This place is too unstable and could explode if not careful!" Zane explained to everyone as they landed at the foot of the rather large volcano. The ninja dismounted their dragons, and Nya stayed in her robot suit.

"Then it's time for some old school fighting," Cole said with a grin as he punched the air.

"Look over there!" Jay said as he pointed to a large tunnel that dug into the volcano off in the distance to the right, "if the Serpentine went in that way, then we can too," Jay continued. And so they made their way through the tunnel until they came up to a large magma chamber. Lucky for everyone the levels of the magma were low. But the ninja and Nya stared out into the chamber to find rocks that acted as bridges for the Serpentine to get around over the magma. Pythor and the other generals were in the middle of it all, but that's when a random Venomarai ran up to Pythor, and it was the same Venomarai the Jay scratched his eye out.

"Pythor, my lord, we think we have found ssssomething," the green snake humanoid hissed. Pythor grinned and the Venomarai led Pythor over a few bridges before he reached a pit that was dug into a rock platform that was connected by other bridges. Pythor glared down at the green snake as he hopped into the pit and dug a few times before his claws hit something. The Venomarai grabbed out the object which was what Pythor was looking for: another fang blade. The blade looked just like the others as it gave off a luminous red glow. Pythor snatched the blade from his crony.

"Well done," Pythor said to the three eyed snake while smiling evilly at the blade.

"Ninja-Go!" the ninjas' and Nya's voices rang through the chamber and caught the attention of the Serpentine as the jumped off the ledge and onto the bridges to face the Serpentine.

"Get them!" Skales cried out and the Serpentine tribe members wasted no time in running into combat.

A large group of the snakes went after Nya, but Nya simply swung a robotic arm and hit the snakes, causing them all to plummet into a burning lava death.

Cole brought out the Golden Scythe of Quakes and slightly jerked it up, causing a bridge that some of the Serpentine were standing on to stagger and almost fall into lava, but Cole didn't give up. Cole turned his scythe completely upside down, making the bridge also turn upside down and the Serpentine on it to fall and burn and die.

Zane didn't have much trouble fighting either. He simply threw his shurikans as they spun through the air and sprayed a layer of ice over a bridge and boomeranged back to Zane. Just as the ice layer hit the bridge some Serpentine didn't notice the ice in time and slipped. They slid their way towards Zane so he stepped out of the way as the snakes crashed into a wall.

Jay was fairing well considering he was surrounded by Serpentine. He didn't even use the electrical powers inside his golden Nun-chucks of Lightning, he merely just hit and knocked out any approaching snake. But one final snake approached Jay and hissed, but then Jay smirked.

"Hey, you got a bug on your zipper," Jay said as he looked down at the snake humanoids crotch. The snake was confused.

"But I don't wear pantssss," the snake mumbled as he looked down.

"Don't worry I'll get it," Jay said quickly and hit the snake between the sensitive spot between his legs, and this time Jay used some electricity which made it worse for the serpent.

Unlike everyone else, Kai wasn't doing so well as Serpentine swarmed him. Suddenly a Fangpyre bared its fangs as it lunged toward Kai's face. Kai just merely escaped the Fangpyre's bite, but he wasn't lucky enough. The Fangpyre managed to create a scar over Kai's right eye, but the scratch wasn't too deep and Kai's eye was unscathed. The Fangpyre the hit Kai once was about to hit Kai again when the rapid shooting noise of a firing machine gun was heard and the Fangpyre was shot and killed. Everyone, even the Serpentine, stopped to find Kate and Lloyd standing up on the tunnel entrance's ledge up above. Kate was holding a machinegun while Lloyd was holding a large rifle.

"Lloyd, I told you that you were too important! And Kate, you knew you weren't ready!" Kai yelled up to them.

But while everyone was distracted, Pythor grabbed out a bow and quiver of arrows, in which used to be Kate's. Pythor strung a bow and aimed right at Kate. When Pythor let the arrow fly, it went right for Kate and shot her straight in the torso.

"Kate!" the ninja, Nya and Lloyd all exclaimed as Kate dropped her rifle and began to breath heavily as she staggered and tried to grasp the arrow. Lloyd tried to grab her before she fell off the ledge but he wasn't quick enough. Kate plummeted toward a rock platform.

"Zane!" Cole cried.

"I'm on it!" Zane quickly said as he threw his shurikans in the air again as they produced a large mound of soft snow for Kate to land on, and it worked. Zane caught his shurikans as Kate's limp body landed on the snow mound.

"Pythor!" Lloyd grunted loudly.

"Oopssssie," Pythor said with a shrug and fake smile. But suddenly the whole place began to shake and rumble.

"What is that?!" Nya cried.

"It's like I predicted. This place is very unstable!" said Zane. Kai was the first to run up to Kate, who was still alive, but not by much, and he picked her up bridal style.

"We gotta get out of here!" Kai exclaimed.

The ninja grabbed onto Nya's Samurai X suit as she activated the rocket boots and she blasted them up to the tunnel exit where Lloyd was. They all sprinted through the tunnel and hopped onto their dragons as they fled the volcano. The volcano exploded into a fiery rage when they were far enough away.

"I don't think the Serpentine survived that," said Jay.

"Good riddance," Lloyd grumbled and then looked sorrowfully at Kate. But everyone was wrong about the Serpentine.

* * *

As the volcano was now in ruin, the remaining Serpentine were actually alive.

"Skalidor, I thank you and your strong tribe to dig usss out of there," said Pythor, and Skalidor bowed his head in respect, "but fear not everyone—we still retrieved the third fang blade!" Pythor announced to everyone as he held up the third fang blade.


	22. Chapter 22 - Finally

Chapter 22 - Finally

The sun was setting over Destiny's Bounty as Kate lay in Lloyd's bed with a massive amount of blood stained bandages wrapped around her torso, and the arrow was out. The ninja, Lloyd and Nya surrounded Kate as she remained out cold, but her breaths were soft and could barely be heard.

"She's fine right now, and she should live—but she's lost a lot of blood, and I don't know when she'll wake up," Nya said sadly, "and Lloyd, I thought it was very sweet of you to give up your bed for Kate," Nya continued with a small smile. Though everyone was sad and worried about Kate, Lloyd was the only one with a tear stained face as he sat on his knees and rested his head on his arms on the bed as he watched Kate closely.

"Lloyd, you can sit there and watch her for as long as you want, but it's not going to make her wake up sooner," Kai said softly but Lloyd didn't even look away from Kate. Kai was just about to reach for Lloyd when Jay grabbed his arm and stopped him while shaking his head at Kai. Nya quietly pushed all of the boys, except for Lloyd, out of the room.

"Kate—I know you can hear me—even if you can't tell me, but I can tell you something. I was going to take care of you for the rest of my life. I was going to give you a promise ring after you said you actually liked me before you were…" Lloyd began softly to Kate as if she was listening but then his voice trailed off, "the promise ring will seal a promise for later—but I'm going to promise you that I will make sure Pythor gets what he deserves," Lloyd continued as he got a slight look of anger on his face. It was silent for another minute until Kate actually began to shake her head a bit and even moan which made Lloyd instantly perk up. Lloyd smiled and gently grabbed Kate's hand as he pulled her hand up to his lips and kissed it.

Lloyd put Kate's hand down and slowly walked backwards out of the room as he continued to look at Kate, but since he wasn't paying attention Lloyd ran back first into the side of the door way. Lloyd rubbed his back and walked out of the room correctly. But as Lloyd was heading down the hall he could see everyone gathering at the entrance to the ship's cabin. Lloyd got confused and pushed himself through everyone and he gasped at what he saw.

* * *

Pythor and the other Serpentine tribes were gathered in the center arena of the City of Ouroborus.

"My tribe is getting ressstlessss. After the lassst attempt of ssstealing a fang blade, they aren't ssssso sure if they trussssst you, Pythor," Skales hissed.

"I don't care. But you don't need to worry because I know where the lasssst fang blade is," Pythor said with a smirk.

"Then vhere-issss it?" Fangtom questioned.

"It's to west where the sun sets over the desert. And I do believe getting the lassssst blade will be quite easy," Pythor replied and then he chuckled darkly.

* * *

"Garmadon?!" the ninja, Nya and Lloyd all exclaimed when they saw Wu walking back up to the ship with Garmadon by his side. Garmadon and Wu stopped just few feet in front of everyone as they stared at Garmadon.

"Are you out of your trucking mind?!" Jay exclaimed.

"Do not question what I know is right. I only wanted to save…" Wu began firmly but then he stopped when he finally noticed Lloyd, "Lloyd?" asked Wu. This made Garmadon aware of Lloyd too so he looked at his son straight in the eyes and Lloyd looked right back at Garmadon.

"Dad…" was all Lloyd could say as he quickly went up to his dad and he hugged him and Garmadon wasted no time in hugging his son back.

"Son, I am so sorry—that I've become the monster I am now," Garmadon said when Lloyd looked up at him.

"You're not a monster. You're my dad. And you're trying to be the best dad. And it isn't your fault that you're like this. We're going to stop the Serpentine," Lloyd said firmly. It wasn't easy to see, but a tear rolled down Garmadon's face.

"If only your mother were here to see you like this. She would be proud of you," Garmadon said while almost on the verge of sobbing.

"Where is Kate?" Wu asked out of the blue, but the ninja and Nya exchanged nervous looks at each other, "is she alright?" Wu asked as he got more concerned.

"Define 'alright'," Cole said nervously.

"What happened?" asked Wu.

"The Serpentine were the ones that kidnapped Lloyd and Kate," Kai began.

"But then Lloyd and Kate managed to escape and come back to us," Zane added.

"And that's when we discovered Lloyd is the Green Ninja," said Jay.

"But after that we saw that the Serpentine were looking for the third fang blade in a volcano, and we went after them," said Cole.

"And we told Lloyd and Kate to stay here..." Nya added. Lloyd sighed.

"But Kate and I wanted to help, so we geared up with some guns, and—Pythor injured Kate very badly," Lloyd finished, "but she's still alive," Lloyd quickly added. Wu was taken back by this.

"Nya, can you please go fetch the Ninjago Rue 21 bag from my room?" asked Wu. Nya nodded and walked into the ship's cabin.

"Are you sure the four golden weapons said you were the Green Ninja, Lloyd?" Wu asked firmly.

"Yes, they did," Lloyd replied, and suddenly Nya came back with the bag Wu requested and reached inside for the lumpy object in the bag.

"I said when I found my objective, I would tell you what I had the seamstress make. And what I was looking for was the Green Ninja of Creation," Wu explained and pulled the object out of the bag as everyone gasped.

Wu pulled out a ninja suit that looked just like the other ninjas', but it was green. And the suit was also a little to big for Lloyd's size, now.

"The Green Ninja's suit?" Lloyd asked softly.

"Yes. Each ninja suit is made to adapt to its wearer's elements. Kai's suit will never burn. Jay's can absorb electricity. Cole's is meant to keep him from being crushed by tons of weight. And Zane's is meant to keep him from freezing in the cold. But this suit is unique because it can do all of those things, so that you may practice all four elements," Wu explained. But the entire time Garmadon was sad.

"Our family is only becoming more divided," Garmadon sighed.

"What do you mean?" asked Lloyd.

"One of the ninja's goals is to defeat me, and now that you're a ninja now too—you'll have to battle me as well," Garmadon said sorrowfully. Lloyd was taken back by this as he shook his head in disbelief.

"Does anyone hear that?" Jay suddenly asked.

"What are you talk-?" Cole began but Kai cut him off.

"Shh!" Kai cut in, and everyone was silent as the faint sound of whirring blades of a helicopter was heard, "yeah, yeah, I hear it too. It sounds like—a helicopter," Kai continued.

"Who would drive a helicopter all the way out into the desert?" Nya questioned.

"Guys," said Lloyd as he shook his head, "Rattle-Copter at six o'clock," Lloyd simply said. And as everyone turned around, Lloyd was right. Up in the air was the Fangpyre's Rattle-Copter as it began to descend near the ship. Inside the cock pit of the unusual air craft was Pythor, Fangtom and other members of the Serpentine tribes.

Pythor chuckled as he pressed and help a button, activating the helicopter's two machine guns on the sides as a one Serpentine would hold and aim the guns at Destiny's Bounty.

"I think it's time to use the button!" Jay exclaimed as he and everyone else sprinted into the ships cabin and into the computer room.

"What button, Jay?!" Cole questioned. But Jay didn't answer as he flipped up a panel that covered a big red button.

"Jay, if the button is red, then you don't push it!" Lloyd said angrily. Again Jay ignored everything as he pushed the big red button. When the button was pushed, big, giant rocket boosters on the outside of the ship formed and the big sail of the ship's mast turned completely sideways and caught more air as the rockets fired up and the ship actually began to get lifted off the ground and catch some air. The ship wobbled from side to side a bit before it balance out again.

"A flying ship?!" Cole exclaimed.

"I hate flying!" Kai whimpered.

But before the flying ship could get any higher the Serpentine tribe members jumped off their helicopter and onto the ship's deck.

"Well, whether you throw up or not, you better get ready for combat!" Cole yelled as he grabbed out his scythe, put up his ninja mask and ran out to the deck. The rest of the ninja ran out onto the deck.

Lloyd heard a clatter coming from the ninjas' room so he bolted. And a Hypnobrai noticed Lloyd and was about to chase after him, when Garmadon came out of nowhere and tackled the blue serpent, but Garmadon ended up rolling to the point where he went off the edge and was hanging off the edge of the ship.

The Hypnobrai got up and went to the edge where Garmadon was trying not to fall. The Hypnobrai laughed evilly as he lifted up a clawed bipedal leg and stepped harshly onto Garmadon's hand while the claws on his feet dug into his hand. Garmadon screamed in pain. Suddenly the snake took his foot from Garmadon's hand and Garmadon could no longer hold himself, so he dropped down. But lucky for him, the ships wasn't at a deadly height and he landed on a giant sand dune to cushion his fall. Garmadon clutched his injured hand and slowly looked up at the flying Destiny's Bounty.

"Why stay—when I'm already stuck going down a darker path?" Garmadon asked himself, "I'm sorry, Lloyd," Garmadon continued softly.

* * *

When Lloyd reached the ninjas' room he gasped to see Pythor towering over Kate's sleeping form as he grinned at her too.

"Pythor," Lloyd said with anger and softness, making Pythor look up at Lloyd. Pythor began to sliver to the other end of the room as Lloyd slowly walked in causing the both of them to circle each other.

"Usually a clever antagonist like me would try to convince the good guy to join their sssside—but I never agreed to that fact. I think it'd be more fun to kill you," Pythor said darkly, but Lloyd was first to lunge at Pythor.

Pretty soon Lloyd and Pythor became a thrashing heap. Pythor pinned Lloyd down and slashed at Lloyd's chest with his claws, causing Lloyd's jacket to rip where it was clawed and the fresh and bloody scratch marks became visible through the tears. Lloyd grunted in pain and thrashed his head back and then his eyes went wide when he discovered the window right behind Lloyd's head and that Pythor was facing. Pythor pulled back just a bit for a second strike, but when Pythor lunged forward Lloyd put his feet to Pythor's torso. So when Lloyd used his legs to push Pythor off, Pythor was pole-vaulted over Lloyd and thrown right towards the window.

Pythor crashed through the window and was sent plummeting down to the big dent in which where Destiny's Bounty used to sit. Pythor didn't move for the next few moments, but slowly but surely Pythor began to stir and meekly stood back up. And as Pythor stood up the sun light reflected off of an object a few feet away. And the reflecting light hit Pythor in the eye. When Pythor saw the object, he smiled.

* * *

The ninja, Wu and Nya continued to fight the Serpentine that were on the deck. But suddenly Wu grabbed out the Serpentine snake charmer's flute and played the music, causing the Serpentine to his and pain and clutch their ears. But the snake driving the Rattle-Copter was wearing a big pair of head phones over his ears. And the Rattle-Copter descended to where Pythor was able to board the air craft. The helicopter then rose up again and the Serpentine who were under the flute's musical spell and quickly jumped off the ship and onto the Rattle-Copter. The helicopter soon turned around and flew away rather quickly. Everyone watched as the Rattle-Copter flew away ad they were all confused.

"Why did they suddenly just flee?" Cole asked after he, and the other ninja, pulled down his mask.

"Guys, come quick, Kate's awake!" Lloyd's voice was heard as he was seen running up to the deck and back into the ninjas' room. Everyone followed Lloyd and they crowded Kate and were happy to see her eyes open and her breathing could be heard better. Kate began to mumble something, but she was still very weak, so Lloyd put his ear to Kate's face.

"…ade…der…ip…" was all that could be heard throughout the room. But Lloyd understood exactly what Kate said and his eyes went wide as he slowly looked back up at everyone.

"She said 'blade under ship'—there was a fang blade underneath the ship the whole time! When I threw Pythor out the window, he must've landed in the spot where the ship was resting. That's why they fled—the Serpentine have all four Silver Fang Blades," Lloyd said with worry. Everyone's eyes went wide at this.

"We cannot let this happen. Jay, you go put this thing back on the ground. Ninja, after the ship is back on the ground, go get the dragons and catch up to them and do what you must to stop them. Nya, you take your robot suit and go with the ninja. Lloyd—you stay here with Kate. I'm going as well," Wu explained firmly and everyone did their part.

Jay put Destiny's Bounty back down on the ground gently and after wards the ninja brought out their golden weapons as they mounted their dragons and went after the Rattle-Copter, and Wu hitched a ride with Kai. Nya did the same as she activated her Samurai X suit and eventually activated its rocket boots and blasted off with the ninja and Wu. But Lloyd stayed with Kate.

Kate meekly and slowly sat up and Lloyd rushed to her side to stop her.

"Whoa, Kate, slow down," Lloyd said softly. Kate looked at Lloyd, and with lustful eyes, for once.

"Lloyd—I love you," Kate said softly as her and Lloyd's faces inched closer, and their lips crashed into each other's.


	23. Chapter 23 - The loss of Hope

Chapter 23 – The loss of Hope

As the ninja, Nya and Wu went after Pythor in the Rattle-Copter with the dragons and Nya's Samurai X robot suit, they traveled quickly over the desert, and many miles in the distance, the City of Ouroborus was becoming visible.

Zane's dragons, Shard, was first to attack as he sprayed a cloud of cold air and hit the whirring helicopter blades, and turned into sheets of ice slowly beginning to affect the speed of the spinning blades. But there were a couple Venomarai on the aircraft as they climbed out to each side and looked up at the spinning icy blades. The Venomarai sprayed their green acid venom and the wind directed the venom right at the blades. Things slowed down so the fact that when the acid venom hit the ice on the blades, the acid burned and ate away at the ice. And things sped up again.

"Oh, you scaly basturds aren't getting away that easy," Kai cursed angrily to himself, "fire away, Flame!" Kai yelled at Flame, and soon enough Flame shot out a large cloud of flames at the helicopter.

The flames hit the Rattle-Copter and it instantly caught on fire and began to plummet. Everyone stopped in their place as they watched the Rattle-Copter fall in a fire ball. Though as the aircraft fell, it continued to move toward the City of Ouroborus.

There was a loud BOOM when the Rattle-Copter crashed to the desert floor, and there was an even bigger explosion.

"That's it?" asked Cole.

But everyone started to get their hopes up high too quickly because a tall and slim figure emerged from the flames. The figure was Pythor as he also appeared to be holding the four Silver Fang Blades. And the latest found blade gave off a silver and white glow. But given his abilities, Pythor turned invisible, as did the blades.

"This isn't over! We need to get to Ouroborus, now!" Wu shouted, and with that they continued to make their way to the ancient Serpentine city. When they were just outside the city, the ninja and Wu landed and dismounted the dragons, and Nya remained inside her robot suit. Golden Weapons were bared and ninja masks were pulled up as they ran into the large and ancient city.

"Where are we going? This place is a maze!" Jay exclaimed.

"Get to the center!" Wu replied. They all wove their way through the maze-like columns of the city until they finally reached the center arena, in which they saw two things. One: Pythor and the four blades, and two: a giant towering statue in the form of a snake.

"Pythor, did you plan another ambush for us, huh?!" Cole asked angrily and brought out his scythe. Pythor grinned.

"Not thisssss time. I wanted Ninjago's most beloved place and capital, Ninjago City, to be 'prepared'—sssso I have sent the rest of the Serpentine to give the warning of the Great Devourer's triumphant return," Pythor said evilly. "Oh, and I wouldn't come closer because before you can even take a sssstep, I would've already awakened the Great Devourer," Pythor continued. But no one listened as they charged after Pythor. Pythor glared at them and turned invisible, making everyone stop in their tracks and look around the silent and empty arena.

"Up here!" Pythor called up high from somewhere in a sing-song voice. Everyone turned to find Pythor in the open stone mouth of the snake statue with a fang blades and a grin. There were four bared stones that acted as the two sets of fangs in the statue's mouth. Pythor took each Fang blade and fit them perfectly into the holes in the rock fangs. Once inserted, each fang began to glow brighter.

"Oh no," Wu said softly with worry as he also gave off a worried expression.

"What 'oh no'?! 'Oh no' what?!" Jay asked as he panicked.

Suddenly the whole place began to rumble very roughly and loudly as Pythor laughed maniacally. But the stone in which the giant serpent statue was made of began to crack and shake. The cracking resolved in large pieces of the statue to fly everywhere, making the ninja, Wu and Nya to shield themselves from flying debris. Bit as the statue pieces went flying, underneath the stone were giant dark green scales that were moving and squirming as if it were trying to escape the statue. Even the rock fangs began to glow so bright that they were no longer stones, but they transformed into much longer and real snake fangs, and the Four Silver Fang blades couldn't be seen either. As more and more scales became visible, Pythor's maniacal laughter began to die.

"What?! But where's the Devourer?!" Pythor exclaimed as he looked around, but Pythor's question was answered.

The entire statue completely exploded only with a giant snake covered in dark green scales, with huge fangs; giant, glowing and piercing orange snake eyes. The giant snake's long tail ended in a giant curved spike, and there was a giant spiked frill in the back of the snake's head.

This was no doubt the return of The Great Devourer.

Pythor was terrified as the Great Devourer noticed something in his giant mouth, and that thing was Pythor.

"Oh no! No, no, no, no, no, no!" Pythor pleaded, but it was too late, the Great snake clamped his massive jaws shut and tilted his head back to swallow. But the giant serpent looked down and snarled at the ninja team, Wu and Nya, and they were all terrified.

But luck was on the good guys' side as the ninjas' dragons suddenly swooped in and grabbed everyone. Being the grounded dragon, as Rocky scooped up his master, Cole, he roared at the Great Devourer, and the Great Devourer let out a loud blood curdling hiss at Rocky. Rocky reacted quickly and swiped his tail across the giant snake's slender body, and the snake did fall to its side in defeat as Rocky quickly turned and ran off after the others, but the Great Devourer didn't stay down for long. The snake whipped itself back up and chased after our heroes.

Jay looked back and twirled his Golden Nun-chucks of Lighting while keeping his balance on Wisp's back. Jay shot an electrical light blue rod toward the Great Devourer, but the great serpent was too agile and dodged the lighting bolt, so the lightning bolt crashed into the sand and caused a small explosion with a few sparks of electricity.

"What are we gonna do, now?!" Nya yelled in fear. But Nya's question was quickly answered when, again, the rapid sound of a machine gun being fired was heard. Everyone looked back to see The Great Devourer being shot in the face by a machine gun high in the sky. But where was the machine gun firing from? And who was even firing?

The Destiny's Bounty ship was seen flying high in the air over the Great Devourer. At the helm and steering the ship and holding the machine gun was none other than Kate. But Kate was still weak as she wore her blood stained bandages around her torso, and she hunched over the ship's steering wheel while holding the wheel in one hand and holding and firing the gun in the other. And the enchanted necklaces Pythor placed on Lloyd and Kate appeared on Kate's neck as the purple magnetic line shot from her necklace too. The purple line traced all the way to the side of the ship where Lloyd was wearing his 'turned on' necklace as he rode his dragon, Titan, beside the ship. But Kate's dragon, Hope, couldn't be found. Titan opened his mouth and a green glow emitted from the back of his throat. Before the Great Devourer could finish another hiss toward Titan, the green dragon shot a large ball of green fire at the snake and shot him down. But the giant serpent wasn't knocked down to the ground this time.

The Great Devourer was raging mad now, and he proved it when a sudden hood opened up on him, but not on his head. The open hood opened wide from his head to the tip of his spiked tail. With a single jerk of his head down and then up the giant snake was air born as the hood waved through the air to take the massive serpent off the ground.

The snake flew toward Lloyd and Titan with great speed, but Kate saw this and so she fired at the snake again. But the rapid firing bullets had no affect to it and only made the snake break in mid-air before he reached Titan and Lloyd. The snake growled as it turned its head toward Destiny's Bounty and scowled and Kate.

The Great Devourer suddenly flew toward the ship and bared its fangs at Kate. But a roar was heard, and that's when Hope appeared and turned visible, just like Wisp could disappear and reappear, and was flying quickly to save Kate. Kate wouldn't move and dropped the machine gun as she practically had a seizure from seeing the Great Devourer this close as it approached her.

Things went slow and silent as the Great Devourer and even Hope both came in contact with the boat and Kate. Kate disappeared behind Hope and Hope curled her wings around Kate. And at the same time, and the ninja team, Nya, Wu or Lloyd couldn't really see everything that happened between Kate, Hope and the Great Devourer, but what they did see was Destiny's Bounty flying ship coming in contact with the Devourer's large fangs, causing the whole thing to be demolished and get turned to nothing but splinters left. The Devourer and Hope were both plummeting toward the ground.

"Keep up with Hope, Titan!" Lloyd yelled at Titan because the purple electric line from Kate's necklace was pulling on him, so Titan did what his rider told him and dove after Hope to keep up with Kate, who was still engulfed and wrapped up in Hope's wings.

The Devourer made a clean landing and closed his flight hood. But the snake only hissed at the heroes and then dove into the ground and disappeared into a large hole. But Hope didn't even open her wings, so she plummeted to the ground very harshly.

Lloyd landed Titan and everyone else approached Hope's motionless body as the sand cleared. Lloyd dismounted Titan and ran up to Hope and lifted a wing, and he luckily found Kate who was coughing, alive, and clutched within Hope's front claws' grip.

"Kate!" Lloyd said happily and helped Kate get out from under Hope's wing, but the entire time Hope still didn't move, and this got Kate worried. So Kate immediately shook from Lloyd and ran up to Hope's face; Hope's eyes were closed and her jaw was slack.

Kate used her strength to cradle Hope's head, but Hope still didn't show signs of life.

"H-hope…?" Kate whimpered as she dropped Hope's head and the dragon's head plopped back down to the ground with a soft thud, and tears filled Kate's eyes. Kate sobbed and hugged Hope's lifeless head, along with the rest of the brown dragon's lifeless body. And everyone bowed their head in sorrow for the loss of Hope.


	24. Chapter 24 - Great terror

Chapter 24 – Great terror

Lloyd was first to scrunch up a fist and put a game face on.

"Guys, this is not who we are. We're the good guys, and the good guys are always supposed to beat the bad guys. I hate that we lost Hope too, but this isn't symbolic that everything is over. It never is, and never will be," Lloyd explained firmly making everyone, even the dragons look up at him. Kate's eyes were still red from tears, but she stood up and looked at Lloyd, and as she walked up to him, Lloyd turned and faced her. The two were about to grab each other's hands when Kate's eyes sparkled again and she stepped back. This got everyone's attention as Kate balanced herself before she fainted and she came to.

"What now?" Cole asked with concern since Kate's eyes were wide and full of worry.

"We gotta get to the city—now," Kate replied in a scared voice.

* * *

In Ninjago City, a lady with black hair in a tight bun, tan skin, and wearing formal attire was walking her small white poodle dog down a side walk. There were other pedestrians, kids, parents, adults bickering on their phone, and they were all minding their own business. But the peacefulness was not to last.

The woman and her poodle were walking by an ally, and the woman didn't notice a tall dark figure with a hood in the ally approaching her. But the dog stopped and growled at the figure. The lay stopped and scowled at her dog.

"Snickers, bad boy. No growling," the lady scolded her poodle, making him stop and growling and whimper from his master's firm command. But Snickers looked into the ally to find the dark figure that was once there was now gone.

The lady and Snickers continued to walk unaware that the figure was hiding behind the dumpster and flicked his snake tongue as his watched the woman with his red ringed eyes and rattled his long general tail.

* * *

Inside a surveillance room where a few men were chillaxing and drinking coffee as there was a screen that had colorful dots and lines that represented trains and rail roads on the many computer screens. Some of the dots were moving slowly, like they should e, and some weren't moving at all, but there was one outlier line red rail road on the screen that had a green dot moving at high speed toward a subway station below the city. One of the men noticed the fast moving dot and hopped out of his office chair and stared at the dot with worry.

"Bill, what is it?" one of the other men asked, soon all of the people in the room were glued to the quick green dot on the screen.

"That's just it: I don't know. What ever it is isn't a train or a sub, but it's coming into the station too fast. I can't contact it or anything," the man, or Bill, explained with much worry.

* * *

There was a not so busy subway station below the city, and people were minding their business when the heard a rumble coming deep down from the subway tunnel. The people got concerned and decided to check and see whether or not it was a train. But they soon discovered it wasn't a train when they saw a pair of two large orange glowing orbs with black slits for irises. Everyone gasped and shrieked as the two orange eyes burst that belonged to the Great Devourer burst into the station while slithering and squirming from the tunnel. The giant snake stopped and looked around, but there was one grown man dressed like a hippie and he took out his iPhone and took a picture. Unlucky for the man, the phone's camera flash was on, and it caught the attention of the Great Devourer.

* * *

A camera man with a reporter lady, with ridiculously big hair, was standing in a park in the middle of the city as the ground began to shake.

The camera wore a red and white t-shirt, blue, tennis shoes. He had blue eyes, and red hair, but he wore a red baseball cap on his head. The reporter lady wore formal attire in a pink color, and she wore glasses over her green eyes. She wore black flats on her feet.

"I'm Gail, and reports have been made of strange and unpredictable shaking activity beneath the city in its subway tunnels. If you viewers see what is causing the shaking, report it immediately," the reporter announced for the camera in a loud and clear voice as she held her microphone to her mouth. Though the camera didn't go off, the lady, or Gail, began to fix her big hair. While Gail was busy, the camera man continued to shoot and saw through the camera's lens that there was a mounds of dirt forming and getting larger very quickly as it was many yards behind Gail.

"Uh, Gail…" the camera man began, but his voice trailed off.

"Not now, Mike. I'm fixing my hair!" Gail snapped at the camera man, Mike.

"But-!" Mike began again only to have Gail interrupt.

"I said not now!" Gail snapped. But that's suddenly when the Great Devourer appeared out of the mound of dirt and let out a loud roar/hiss, and it looked in Gail and Mike's direction. This made Gail finally turn around, and she shrieked and ran off, and Mike wasted no time in running away too.

Running only made the Devourer want to chase the two humans, and so he glared and began to slither, but a sudden giant bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and shot down the sky. This time the snake was a bit paralyzed from the hit.

The lightning bolt came from Wisp as Jay rode atop him, as did the other ninja and Lloyd ride their dragons, Nya was in her Samurai X robot suit, and Wu and Kate were at the steering wheel of the flying Destiny's Bounty.

"What are we?!" Kai yelled.

"Ninja!" the other ninja and even Lloyd shouted back with excitement.

"And we are a ninja team!" Kate yelled out of the blue, but it encouraged everyone as they cheered.

* * *

A familiar, tall, dark figure with four arms and red eyes stood outside the window that looked into a store with T.V. sets on shelves and each T.V. was switched on.

What was airing on the T.V. screens was Gail was reporting before the Devourer showed up. The shadowy figure watched as the Great Devourer appeared on the T.V. sets, making him growl.

* * *

The Great Devourer eventually came to and rose up again as he scowled at the good guy team.

"How are we gonna defeat it?! It's been hit, the First Spinjitzu Master knows, how many times, and it never could be stopped!" Jay exclaimed with worry.

"It's simple!" Cole exclaimed with a smile as he bared his Golden Scythe of Quakes, "we just beat it senseless," Cole continued to himself in a dark tone.

Rocky sensed what his rider wanted, so he lifted his backside upward, causing Cole to be flung off Rocky and toward the Great Devourer. Cole did some summer-salts in mid-air before he landed in front of the big snake and he crashed his scythe into the ground, making giant spears of rock and Earth fly from the ground and toward the Devourer's head. The big snake bared his fangs and hissed loudly. Since his mouth was open, when the rocks spears Cole made hit the snake's head, it hit one of the fangs in the Devourer's mouth.

But when the fang was hit, the fang quickly changed back into one of the Four Silver Fang Blades, but pretty soon the fang blade returned back into its other form in which being on of the Great Devourer's fangs. Everyone noticed what happened with the snake's fang and realization hit their faces, but suddenly the Great Devourer opened the giant hood on its body that allowed it to fly, and no sooner did it take off and fly right toward Zane and Shard.

Unlucky for Zane, the big snake was too fast as it flew above Zane and Shard and aimed its spiked tail at Zane.

"Zane, look out!" Kate shouted but it was too late. The tip of the spike hit Zane smack-dab right in the face, causing him to fall off of Shard and plummet. Everyone was terrified as Zane was falling too quickly for them to go after him, but that's not what Shard believed.

Shard dove head first after his beloved rider and reached his claws after Zane. the whole time Zane was falling he wasn't moving. Finally, before Zane could hit the ground, Shard grabbed Zane's body with his claws and landed safely on the ground as he put his master down gently. The others came down to the spot to see if their nindroid buddy was ok.

But everyone let out a sigh of relief as Zane began to move and stand, but his back was turned as no visible scars could be seen. But Zane stumbled a bit, so Shard put his muzzle in front of Zane to catch his fall and steady him.

"You alright, buddy?" asked Jay making Zane slowly turn, but everyone gasped when hey saw the one big scar on Zane.

Half of Zane's face was gone, and there wouldn't be blood and flesh like normal. Zane was a robot, so underneath his 'skin' were wires, metal, and the eye was a smooth round, glowing blue orb. The other, perfectly fine, face half still had Zane's other eye and mouth.

"Still wasn't your time," Kate sighed and even cracked a small smile, but Zane didn't smile. Zane opened his mouth and was about to say something when a dark voice interrupted him.

"If you don't mind…" Garmadon's deep voice started making everyone turn to look at him in surprise, "I know how to defeat that monster," Garmadon continued as he looked up at the still air-born Great Devourer as it flew away.

"I believe we have the same idea," Zane stated. Garmadon nodded.

"If you've noticed, the fangs of the vial beast is, ironically, is its weak spot. If we do this correctly to knock some teeth from the snake—then we can stop it. But only if you do as I say," Garmadon explained. They all exchanged unsure glances at each other, but Lloyd smiled at his dad.

"I'm with you, Dad," Lloyd said with a smile, making Garmadon smile. But Lloyd suddenly felt something gripped his hand, so he looked down to find Kate's hand holding his. Lloyd looked beside him to find Kate standing next to him and smiling at Garmadon.

"Me too, sir," said Kate. Garmadon sighed with a smile as he walked closer to Kate.

"This may come as a shock to you, but I knew your father well," said Garmadon, making Kate's eyes widen and her smile go away.

"Y-you—you knew him?" Kate stammered.

"Yes, I did. It was his fault that he decided to join the Serpentine, even if it was by force; no matter how risky it was, he should've stood up for good. But I can tell you're not like him, at all. Kate Chen—always stand for what's right," Garmadon said firmly.

"I thought I always have," Kate said softly with a smile. But the moment was ruined at the Great Devourer's roaring hisses were heard at the other end of the city. Garmadon growled and bared his sharp teeth as he balled his four hands into fists.

"You need to give me the Golden Weapons!" Garmadon said out of the blue.

"What?!" the four ninja exclaimed. But everyone went silent as they watched Wu slowly walk up to and look Garmadon in the eye.

"Brother, if you really are willing to stop the evil we face now—then I can trust you with Ninjago's most important means of defense," said Wu, and Garmadon only hugged his younger brother, and Wu hugged back.

"You know as well as I do that I may hide away with the weapons," Garmadon began as he pulled away from Wu, "but it's for the greater good now, isn't it?" Garmadon asked.

"I fear that it is," Wu sighed and turned to his four men students, "do as Garmadon says, and follow any other directions he gives us," Wu explained firmly as he looked around at everyone.

The four ninja reluctantly walked up to Garmadon and gave him the four Golden weapons; each of Garmadon's four hands grasping a weapon. Garmadon grinned evilly as he finally had the weapons it place.

"I'll need a lift. A lift at one that can get me close enough to the Great Devourer's mouth," said Garmadon.

"We'll need a diversion," Cole pointed out.

Suddenly crashing and the screams of people where the Devourer was causing havoc could be heard.

"Ninja and Nya, you distract the Devourer and/or protect the people in any way you can," Garmadon demanded.

"Ok, but who's going to get you close enough to the Devourer?" Kai asked out of nowhere.

Lloyd and Kate looked at each other and nodded before looking back at everyone else.

"We will," Lloyd and Kate said in unison, making everyone give them quizzical looks.


	25. Chapter 25 - 'Tis never over

Chapter 25 – 'Tis never over

The Great Devourer wasted no time in creating destruction on the sky scrapers in Ninjago City, as it continued to fly through the sky. But as it waved its flight hood to keep itself in the air, Rocky with Cole on his back came running toward the Devourer's tail. Rocky jumped up into the air with his powerful legs and clamped his massive jaws down on the giant snake's tail, and Rocky weighed the snake down and they both landed on the ground with BOOM.

"Zane, now!" Cole boomed. Zane was flying on Shard directly above the momentarily grounded Great Devourer. Shard opened his mouth and aimed it at the flight hoods of the Great Devourer. Shard shot two giant glowing ice beams from the back of his throat; each hitting the Devourer's flight hood. As soon as the ice hit the snake's hood, the ice expanded itself until it was a thick layer of ice covering every inch on both of the flight hoods.

"Whack-a-snake time, Rocky!" Cole told Rocky, and his earth dragon turned his head sideways. Rocky lifted his upper body into the air, taking the Devourer and its frozen hoods with it. With one giant thrust back toward the ground Rocky threw the Devourer back onto the ground, causing the ice to shatter and break apart the hoods. The Devourer roared in pain with frozen bits of its, used to be, flight hood.

"You're grounded!" Jay's voice rang, getting the snake's attention. The Great Devourer turned completely around, and Rocky and Cole immediately moved out of the way, and the Great Devourer was met with Flame, who was ridden by Kai, and Wisp, ridden by Jay, as the fire and lightning dragon bared the claws out and impaled their claws into the giant snake. The dragons flapped their wings hard, and eventually lifted the snake off the ground. Pretty soon, the Great Devourer was hundreds of feet in the air, but the snake could do nothing now. The Great Devourer was forced to look straight ahead as it caught sight of Garmadon, Lloyd and Kate riding on Titan, who was flying rather quickly towards it.

Lloyd was keeping the green dragon controlled in flight, while Garmadon and Kate were standing up. Garmadon held out each of the four golden weapon, and Kate, for some reason, was clutching Garmadon's torso as they neared the Great Devourer's head.

"Don't let go of me until you see the back of the Devourer's throat!" Garmadon shouted.

Garmadon and Kate walked to the edge of Titan's neck as they were closer than ever to the giant snake. Kate, along with Garmadon still in her grasp, jumped off of the green dragon and dove for the Devourer's mouth while Lloyd made Titan pull up so that the necklaces' magnetic pull on Lloyd and Kate's necks would act like a vine and swing Garmadon and Kate toward the Great Devourer. The purple magnetic rod that connected Lloyd and Kate by their necks became visible again, and Kate and Garmadon were swinging forward as Garmadon bared the Golden Weapons.

Kate let go and threw Garmadon into the Devourer's mouth, but Garmadon made sure at least one golden weapon struck each of the four Devourer's large fangs. The weapons struck the fangs with a loud CLANK and the teeth were dislodged and immedtiately turned back into their Silver Fang Blade form. As Garmadon and the golden weapons disappeared down the Devourer's throat, the fang blades fell hundreds of feet to the ground and the Devourer roared as it thrashed around after Wisp and Flame let go.

The green scales that covered the snake's body began to morph back into the rock mineral they once were when they used to make a snake statue, and as the rocks came back, the stone body parts became immobilized. And a bright white glow came from between the cracks as the entire snake became immobilized and covered in stone. But before anyone could say anything else, the almighty Great Devourer exploded and rocks and debris went flying through the city, some rocks even flying so they ended up over half a mile away.

That was it. It was done. The Devourer was defeated. The good guys have won this battle.

Everyone landed back down into to park and looked at each other with nothing to say, and the citizens of Ninjago City made themselves seen as the hundreds of city fold crowded the park. The crowd suddenly burst into cheers and the ninja, Lloyd, Wu and the girls were surprised to see everyone cheering.

Cheers like, "They did it!" or, "The First Spinjitzu Master has blessed us!" and "Awesome!"

* * *

_Epilogue. _

The sun had set over the now peaceful Ninjago city. The crowd was no longer at the park or cheering the ninja, but the ninja and everyone else remained at the park. Even the dragons, except for Titan who was relaxing on the grass, were gone as their part to serve their riders were done, and they returned to the locations in which they used to protect the Golden Weapons.

Any debris and rock was cleaned up, and the Four Silver Fang Blades were taken to be put in publication at the Ninjago Museum.

Zane's face was still in two, and his blue robotic eye on the recently scarred side of his face was glowing as Zane scanned the area.

"I see no sign of Garmadon or…" Zane began but his voice trailed off after he stopped scanning.

"The Golden Weapons," Kai finished for Zane as he looked at Wu, and Wu sighed a sorrowful sigh.

"I knew Garmadon would run off with the weapons if he was given the chance to live. But what saddens me most is that he possibly didn't make it. But all of Ninjago, and even us, should be greatful for Garmadon's sacrifice," Wu explained softly.

Lloyd hung his head sadly knowing his father could possibly be dead because he could've sacrificed himself to save Ninjago. So Kate put a reassuring hand on Lloyd's shoulder, and gave him a peck on his cheek; surprising everyone else since they didn't know Kate finally admitted her love for Lloyd.

"When did this happen?" asked Jay.

"The moment I, literally, woke up, and realized the future that was right in front of me," Kate said softly with a smile, making Lloyd smile and look her in her violet eyes.

"Speaking of which, how did you regain consciousness so quickly?" asked Nya.

"I'm not sure...I guess with all the time I've been spending with elemental ninja, I must've absorbed the powers. Nya, you said ice had healing abilities, so I must've picked up some of Zane's ice power, and the ice healed me faster than I should have," Kate explained with a questioning look on her face. Wu pondered this the most.

"That is very unique. Kate, I believe you have the elemental power to absorb," said Wu, making everyone's eyes widen and gawk at Kate, even Kate was shocked.

"I did not know that," Kate said slowly.

"Born to be a Ninja" by The Fold begins to play.

**THE END**


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